Torn Between Generations
by RavenclawValdez007
Summary: Hermione Granger has been blasted back in time- And she's found herself with the Marauders! Sirius Black, the known player of Hogwarts, James Potter, the prankster, Remus Lupin, pretty much the only mature one, and Peter Pettigrew, the one that's never really in the story all meet Hermione, and some have different thoughts than others. Rated T for language but may change later on.
1. Back in Time

**Author's note: Okay, here's the deal. I used to be on a different account, GinnyBond321. I had the story A Twist in Time, and it was doing pretty good. Until, I couldn't log in anymore. I don't know what happened, but I guess it got hacked or something. My e-mail also wasn't working, so I had to get another e-mail, and I just decided to get another FanFiction, too. If the story seems similar, it's because I took some ideas from my old story. But don't worry, the plot is very different. For one thing, Sirius isn't as fond of Hermione. Whoops! Spoilers! Whatever. I hope you enjoy, peeps.**

**- RavenclawValdez007**

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Hermione sat in her room, alone. She was currently in the flat that she was planning of buying with Ron. Well, buying by herself. Ron refused to get a flat together for some reason, something about waiting. Hermione thought that, when she came back for Christmas, she'd get one by herself to surprise him.

Ron was working, of course. Hermione was still in school- She decided to come back for another year for Hogwarts to finish her seventh year. She needed her N.E.W.T.S. to get the job she wanted, whatever that was going to be. She hadn't decided yet.

The Real Estate person was in the kitchen, showing another family the sink. It was open house, after all. Hermione was the only one in the master bedroom. She decided to head back into the family room, but something caught her eye. A golden box on the dresser next to the queen bed. Hermione walked over and picked it up- It was no bigger than a cigar box. She picked up the box and turned it over in her hand. Hermione wasn't the one to snoop, but she was merely curious.

She flipped it back over, and she opened the lid. Inside, was a single time-turner. Memories of missed classes and a hippogriff rushed to her. She smiled a bit as she took it out. The gold-bronze metal turned as she held it up to eye-level. Hermione was about to place it back in the box until the thin chain slipped out of her hand. The time-turner landed with a tinkle on the hardwood floor. Hermione knelt down and picked it up. A flash of sand appeared, leaking onto the ground.

"Whoops," Hermione muttered. She took a look closer at the broken hour-glass. That's when Hermione noticed something was wrong- The time turner was shaking. Just as she was about to put it down, Hermione felt herself getting sucked into a small space, into nothing.

* * *

"How'd she get here?"

"She's hot."

"Would you get your mind off seducing girls for a moment and try to get her up? I think she's awake."

"Aw, come on, Moons! He's not doing any harm."

"We're in the middle of dinner, can we not talk this loud-"

"It's her fault for appearing in the middle of it. I'll talk at whatever volume I want to talk at. Oh, and by the way, I call dibs."

"She's a girl, not an object- She's waking! Shh!"

"What... What's happening?" Hermione muttered. She rubbed her eyes, and sat up. She removed her hands from her eyes and looked around. The very first face she saw was inches from her, kneeling on the ground besides her. And it was Sirius.

Hermione screamed and slid herself back, kicking to help her get back. The entire hall exploded in laughs as Sirius turned a light shade of pink.

"What?" he asked.

It was Sirius- Young, handsome- Yes, he was very good looking. He had long, sleek black hair barely touching his shoulders and a blinding smile. She looked to the side of the man she thought to be dead, and almost had another coronary. Harry- But not. He had hazel eyes, no scar, and a crazed smile. Then, there was Lupin. Brown shaggy hair, amber eyes, a scar on his cheek and bags under his eyes. He pulled off the tired look- And he did it good.

Hermione took deep, steadying breaths.

"What's going on?" she whispered, but everyone in the hall heard- It was suddenly dead silent again.

"Ah. Yes. I was hoping you'd get to that. Who are you?" Sirius asked.

"You-" Hermione was about to insist he had known her for ages, then her mind started to race. Where was she? Was she back in time? In a memory? No, she wasn't in a memory. They were talking to here. Back in time- She did, after all, break a time turner. It made the smallest amount of sense.

"Oh- Wait- Before you answer that- Why'd you scream?" Sirius inquired. Some people snickered. Hermione took another glance around, she was in Hogwarts still, at least.

"You were inches away from my face, why would I not scream?" she said faintly. "I'm Hermione-" She paused for half a second "- Alden. And-" she looked up, and she saw a certain blue-eyed, moon spectacles and long bearded man.

"And I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said suddenly. She scrambled to her feet and rushed over to the teacher's table, everyone murmuring among themselves about the newcomer. Dumbledore was looking at her with confusion,but there was a glint of curiosity in his eye. Hermione remembered that was a Legilimens- So she thought clearly in her head:

_Professor, my real name is Hermione Granger and I am from the year 1998. I was accidentally sent back in time by breaking a time turner. Help me, please!_ she thought desperately. Dumbledore was silent for a moment, and for a little, Hermione thought that she had failed. Then, a wide smile spread over his face.

"Why, Hermione, I thought you wouldn't be arriving until this Friday! None the less, I shall show you around the school..." Dumbledore lied expertly. He stood up of his seat and smiled at all of the staring students.

"Nothing to see here. Carry on with your dinner," Dumbledore said pleasantly, and led Hermione out of the Great Hall.

"Hermione Granger, if that is your real name- How on earth did you break this time turner?" Professor Dumbledore asked as soon as they entered his office.

"Well, I was thinking of buying this lovely little flat in Hogsmeade, until I found this time turner in a box in the master bedroom," Hermione began, voice shaking a bit. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying- She was back in time. Way back in time. She'd never see that people she loved ever again.

"I dropped it on the ground, and the sand leaked out, and, well, here I am," Hermione finished. "It's not much of a story, but... The result is pretty big."

"I see," Professor Dumbledore said, scratching his beard. "Well, I will have to think this through. For the time being, you shall proceed to go to Hogwarts."

"What?"

"What House were you in, Miss Granger?" Professor Dumbledore asked, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Gryffindor, sir. I was in the seventh year."

"Excellent. There is a dormitory hidden next to the common room."

"Really?" Hermione asked, slightly curious.

"Yes. Each House has one. It is behind the abstract portrait next to the fireplace. I'll have Madam Rosmerta- The bartender at the Three Broomsticks- Take care of your clothes. Have you eaten yet?"

"Well, no," Hermione said, about to say something else, but decided on the better of it.

"Okay. You can head down to the Great Hall, if you wish. I'm going to try to find a solution for the time being."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione muttered, standing up.

"Of course," he responded.

Hermione was in some sort of sad trance as she walked back to the Great Hall. It was empty except for a few first years who had just found their way to the Great Hall. Hermione figured it must be the beginning of the year- She had forgotten to ask the date. She quickly ate a simple dinner of mashed potatoes and turkey before heading off to the common room. She had on jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt, so she was a bit out of place. People in the corridors stared as she bustled past.

Hermione arrived in the common room, just the same as it was before. She settled down on one armchair, taking deep, steadying breaths. She had controlled herself and forced herself not to cry when she was talking to Dumbledore, but she couldn't hold it in much longer- She collapsed into an armchair and started to sob.

Hermione was terrified- She's in an entire new world, and there's no way of going back. She would never see her parents of her friends ever again- Not even her cat, Crookshanks. And Ron. Their relationship was going so well- That very morning, he had just given her a boxes of chocolates, which Hermione adored. Well, not quite. Ron had forgotten (Again) that she doesn't like strawberry jam filled chocolates, but he always gets the most expensive ones for her. Hermione always appreciated the gesture.

There was another reason to cry about- Ron. She had finally gotten the courage to say the L-Bomb the night before. He just looked at her, shocked and aghast. He awkwardly looked away and said, "I know."

What did that mean? That he didn't love her back? That he didn't want to be in a relationship anymore? Hermione started to shake as she buried her head in her arms.

"Um- Hermione?" a voice said behind her. Hermione stopped crying at once and remained still.

"It's me... Sirius Black," he said in a mature, deep tone, like he was hitting on her. Hermione poked her head up, and Sirius was sitting in another armchair not three feet away from her.

"Hello, Sirius," she sniffled.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, looking worried for her. For some reason, he didn't have that sincere crinkle around his eyes like he used to, or rather, he would have in the future. It was like he was faking, or something. Hermione pushed those thoughts away.

"Just... Missing home, I guess," she muttered, wiping her tears away.

"Where?"

"Er... Well, really far away from here. France."

"That's not that far away."

"Well, the thing is, everyone's over there. Even my parents, and my boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"Sort of. I don't think he really likes me that much anymore," Hermione said. She had never thought about that before, much less say it out loud. Now that she thought about, he never really had time for her. The last time they had more than an hour of alone time together was five months ago, before he got started at his job as an Auror. He insisted that he had loads of work to do, but Hermione heard Ron saying how, 'hot' one of the girls in the office was. Harry responded, 'No, you have Hermione, mate.' Ron just shrugged. And even, after months of begging, Hermione finally went all the way with him- And afterwards, he got up out of bed and got dressed for work without a word, without a goodbye.

"Shame," he said. "Say, how would you like to go out with me to Hogsmeade this Saturday?" he asked suddenly. Hermione blinked in surprise at her best friend's godfather.

"Er. No thanks, Sirius," she said with a sigh. "I'm not exactly-"

"Wait- What?" Sirius asked suddenly, looking aghast.

"No, Sirius," Hermione repeated. "I don't feel up to it-"

"So- You're rejecting me?" Sirius said, still looking quite baffled.

"Yes," Hermione said, starting to get a bit annoyed. "In case you haven't noticed, we barely know each other."

"Fine!" Sirius barked so loudly and suddenly that it made Hermione's hear jump. He glared at Hermione before standing up and turning on his heel, marching up the boy's dormitories.

"Drama queen," Hermione muttered. Sirius caught it, however.

"Bitch," he spat. Hermione's jaw popped open as he went up the stairs with a smirk- What on earth just happened, and what happened to the kind man she knew?

She stood up, quite confused and frustrated. Walking over to the fireplace, she just noticed the abstract painting of yellow and blue stripes, something that was always there but Hermione never payed attention to. Hermione opened the portrait, which swung open easily. Behind it was a metal sliding door, like a Japanese door.

"Password?" a female voice said.

"It hasn't been set yet?" Hermione said in confusion.

"Very good," it said in a please tone, and it slid open.

Hermione stepped into the dorm, and the metal door and portrait closed. It was very nice; with a queen bed with golden sheets and red pillows. The ground was red-mahogany fluffy carpet, and there was a desk to the side with a plain, wooden chair. In one corner, there was a squishy arm chair with a lamp next to it; perfect for reading. There was a window next to the armchair, and in front of the bed was a fireplace. Besides the bed was a night stand with a lamp, which was the only thing that was lit in the room. A dresser sat next to the window. It was perfect. There was even her own bathroom.

Hermione turned, and both portraits had little metal panels next to them, for setting the password. Hermione set both of them to Red Vines, a muggle candy that nobody could guess. Hermione then crawled under the bed sheets and crashed.

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**Thanks for reading, and drop a review if you're not too lazy today!**


	2. And the Classes Begin

**Author's note: Hey everyone! Thanks for 7 follows already! Holy crap. Well, enjoy this chapter! It's longer, this time.**

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Hermione woke up the next day, still in her old clothes. That was, until she noticed a note stuck onto the dresser.

_Professor Dumbledore explained it all to me. I hope you like your clothes! -Madam Rosmerta_

Hermione smiled and opened her drawer. She slipped out of her clothes, looked in the dresser, and almost had a coronary. There was the normal Hogwarts uniform, but a bit altered. Madam Rosmerta had bought her mid-thigh length skirts instead of knee skirts, and wedges instead of flats. Well, she had flats, but they were every color but black. She went a bit overboard- about twenty-five pairs of shoes and too many clothes to count. Hermione was fumbling through the drawers, and she turned bright red at the underwear drawer. There wasn't a single article of clothing that wasn't lacy. She even saw various bikinis in there. Hermione opened the bottom drawer, expecting the worst. She gasped when she saw it- a dress, in it's see through wrapping. But the part that shocked her was that it looked like liquid, like the invisibility cloak. It was silver, but that's all Hermione could see without opening the wrapping. She decided to check that out later.

Hermione nervously put on her mid-length skirt and her black wedges. She did a full turn in the mirror- The skirt only went an inch or two past her rear. Hermione blushed pink. Madam Rosmerta had also gotten her makeup, and Hermione was going to leave it alone until a sudden thought struck her.

New school, new look, a snide voice said inside of her head. Hermione considered. Well, it won't affect her studies. She applied some black eye-liner and black eye shadow- A little more than she had ever dared. She then, patted some blush on her cheeks and put on some light pink lip gloss. She looked at herself in the mirror, and was very surprised- She looked... hot, actually. Her hair wasn't bushy anymore, but instead grew into a nice curly/wavy.

Hermione stepped out of her dorm and walked quickly to the Great Hall. She was a bit late, considering that she was usually down at seven- It was seven thirty. Hermione tried to step in the Great Hall without getting noticed- That was a total fail. The clacking of her wedges seemed to echo across the hall as the heads of many people turned. Luckily, none of the teachers were here to see the show- They were setting up for their classes. Hermione turned pink a bit as she walked over to the end of the Gryffindor table, alone. She was now seriously regretting putting on all of that makeup. She should have just worn the dark blue flats, no teachers would have been able to tell the difference. Hermione tried to ignore all of staring and started to pile eggs on her plate.

"Hey there," a voice behind her said. Hermione looked over her shoulder and nearly choked on her eggs. There, was a guy with dirty-blonde hair, green eyes, shirt unbuttoned one and Gryffindor tie slung over his neck. He took a seat next to Hermione without her saying anything- She didn't really complain. He was really good looking, and could compete with Sirius. Hermione noticed that many girls were giving her nasty looks.

"The name's Chase Madison," he said with a cocky grin. Hermione smiled slightly.

"Hermione Alden," she responded, picking up a slice of toast.

"You're eating," he said with an air of surprise.

"Brilliant observation, Sherlock," Hermione muttered.

"No- It's just that- A lot of the girls here don't eat... To lose weight," he said, still a bit confused. Hermione snorted.

"Please. Not eating doesn't necessarily mean that you're losing weight. Your body goes into survival mode, which means that it burns as little calories as it possibly can. If a girl doesn't eat for three days, she barely loses a pound," Hermione said smartly. "If you want to lose weight, eat healthier foods in smaller portions." Chase was silent for a while.

"Wow," he said.

"It's not that shocking, or that interesting, really," Hermione passed, placing her eggs on her toast.

"No- It's just that, a lot of girls here don't know how to talk without giggling every five seconds. And, I dunno- I expect someone like you to be like one of them," he said in that same tone of interest and confusion.

"I don't think that guys want a bony, skinny girl. I think their dream girl would be curvy," Hermione said, "And that's what I'm aiming for."  
Chase was silent again, scratching the back of his head.

"You see, usually, my pick-up lines apply to the giggly, dim-witted ones, so I'm all out," he said awkwardly. Hermione laughed- At least he was honest. As she laughed, she caught hold of Sirius, Remus, and James all the way at the end table. Remus was eating, but James and Sirius were both glaring at Chase with such hatred it probably burned through his soul.

"What's their problem?" Hermione muttered, glancing towards James and Sirius. Chase squinted in the direction she was looking, and he snorted.

"Oh. Don't mind them," he said, taking a sip of Hermione's pumpkin juice. Hermione was about to interrupt him, but he kept on going.

"Been enemies since first year. Used to tease me 'cause of my big teeth- Believe it or not, I was a bit fat back then. Then, forth year comes around, and suddenly, I'm competition with Black."

"You guys see which one can get more girls?" Hermione said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"No," Chase said. "But that's what Black thinks it's about. I personally think it's about getting the hottest girl."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, that makes it so much better."

Chase raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I've only been going out with two girls my entire time at Hogwarts. Ask anyone, they'll tell you. That's how many girls he gets in a day."

"And girls still like him?"

"Each girl he gets with insist that he said that, 'She was the one', and then a week later, she'd be off crying in a loo somewhere."

Hermione remained silent as she poured herself a new glass of pumpkin juice.

"You're quiet," Chase noted.

"Why can't I be?"

"Well, the girls here-"

"Would you please stop!" Hermione exclaimed so loudly that one or two heads turned her way. "Stop going on and on about 'other girls'! I'm not like them, okay? For future reference, the very last thing that girls want to hear from a guy is that they're exactly like every other one they've ever met," Hermione snapped, standing up and exiting the hall.

"Wait- Hermione!" Chase called after her, but Hermione ignored him, chin in the air. Hermione felt many pairs of eyes on her back.  
rushed to her dorm and gathered her stuff as quickly as possible. Then, without looking, she walked straight out into the common room, and WHAM. She ran straight into somebody. Hermione tumbled to the ground, bag landing with a thud next to her.

"I'm so, so sorry," Hermione said, standing up and brushing her hair out of her face. Standing up to meet here was a beautiful girl with dark red hair, and quite familiar green eyes.

"No problem," seventeen year old Lily Evans said. "Hey- Are you new here?"

"Yeah. Two thirds of the people I've talked to are complete jerks."

Lily snorted. "Can I take a wild guess? One of them has got to be Potter."

Hermione cocked her head. "James? No, actually. Black was being quite rude."

Lily's eyes widened a bit. "Him, rude to a girl? A rarity. What happened?"

"Well, I just got here last night during dinner-"

"That explains it. I was in the library. Sorry. Continue," she said, smiling apologetically. It was fine- Hermione was liking this girl already.

"And after I talked to Professor Dumbledore, I sort of start to sob in one of the armchairs. Instead of trying to comfort me awkwardly like any other normal human being, he starts to hit on me and he asks me out! I mean, what the hell?"

Lily nods her head. "That's like him."

"I told him no-"

"WHAT?" Lily said so loudly and suddenly that Hermione's heart jumped. "Sorry- I mean- What? No one says no to Black. No one."

"Well, he pouted like a child, said, "Fine!" and stormed up the stairs. I called him a drama queen-"

Lily snorted. "Very true. Next?"

"And then he called me a bitch," Hermione said, ending in a hiss. Lily gasped as her eyes narrowed.

"Him and Potter. If I could just slap them both- I'm Head Girl, though, and I don't want to do anything that'll change that."

Hermione nodded. "What do we have first?"

"Well, here's the thing. Our year has always been particularly large, so I don't expect us to be in the same classes."

Hermione groaned. "The first person that treats me like a normal human being, and I can't even be in the same class as her."

Lily smiled. "There're be other people. See you at lunch?"

Hermione blinked, surprised at the fact she had managed to get a friend so quickly. "Yeah. That'd be great."

"Both of my other friends moved, like you. I thought I'd be lost, but here you are. See you then," Lily said, smiling as she turned away. Hermione went after her, and they headed in opposite directions.

When Hermione arrived to Transfiguration, she was the first one there. A quite young Professor McGonagall sat there in a desk. She actually looked pretty, in a motherly way- She could be no more than thirty-five years old. She wasn't any less stern, however- She turned to Hermione and her eyes did a little double-take. She recovered quickly and cleared her throat.

"Hello. New student?" she asked. Hermione nodded.

"Hermione Alden, I suppose?" she asked. Hermione nodded again, not feeling the need to say anything. Professor McGonagall looked over a sheet.

"Here we sit in Alphabetical order. You sit next to Sirius Black, starting from the back left corner."

Hermione did an inward groan, and probably made a face. "Thank you, Professor," she managed to croak.

"Professor McGonagall," she introduced, giving her a small smile. Hermione bowed her head awkwardly before heading to the table in the very back. Why could the table not be in the front?

She sat down in the right hand seat and quickly took out her books and began to review it. Professor McGonagall payed her no attention, and instead began to tell the incoming students their seating arrangements.

"Don't complain, last year was a complete disaster," Professor McGonagall would fuss when a student complained. "I couldn't get a single student's attention when you decided your own seats. Now sit down where I tell you to sit."

Soon, everyone had filed in, Sirius and James being the last. Shirts unbuttoned two buttons, ties slung around their necks- Nearly every girl in the room batted their eyelashes at Sirius- Only a few went for James, but they knew he was a hopeless case for Lily Evans.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and Professor McGonagall looked like she was having a tough time doing the opposite.

"Dress appropriately, considering you are both sitting next to girls."

"Well, that's the point, is it not?" Sirius said in that same, deep voice he used on her the night before. The girls giggled.

"Who's the lucky lady?" Sirius said, eyeing all of them but Hermione.

"Potter, you go sit next to Stanley." A girl with way too much makeup and fake orange hair batted her eyelashes at him- James tried to hide a face of disgust, not thrilled at the fact he would have to sit next to someone the exact opposite of Lily.

"Black, that leaves you with Hermione Alden, in the back," Professor McGonagall said sternly. Most people looked at each other, like they were expecting a show. They got one, but something unexpected.

Sirius sneered and made a face of absolute repulsion.

"Oh please, Professor, give me another seat," Sirius sneered. "I certainly don't want to sit next to Alden."

Many people gasped. Sirius Black, rude to a girl? Many girls looked thrilled, and so did many guys, happy at the chance to snatch Hermione up. Hermione remained silent and stared at her notes.

"Black, sit down at once or it's a detention," Professor McGonagall snapped.

"No," Sirius said stubbornly.

"Oh, just shut up and sit down!" Hermione said loudly. "You're giving me a migraine. I wasn't thrilled about the seating arrangements, either, yet you are the one that's acting like a girl."

"Shut up!" Sirius barked angrily as the class laughed.

"Black, that's a detention right there! Tonight, my office, eight o'clock," Professor McGonagall snapped. Sirius scowled before heading off to sit next to Hermione grudgingly.

"Now, class, this is the last year of Hogwarts for all of you," Professor McGonagall said before the awkwardness could begin. "Also the year of your N.E.W.T.S. Please turn to page fifteen of your textbooks, and read until page twenty-five. We can start class from then on."

It was silent except for the rustling of bags and the flipping of pages. Hermione had already read it, of course. She just re-read it.

Soon, people began to look up and around to see who else has finished. Hermione began to levitate a crumbled piece of parchment up and down in the air. Suddenly, there was a small buzz as the ball turned into ashes, landing in a pile on Hermione's desk. Hermione glanced at Sirius, who was smirking at her. She rolled her eyes as she vanished the dust.

"Okay, I see that you are all done reading," Professor McGonagall said suddenly. "Will someone please tell me the definition of conjuring?"

Hermione's hand was up before anyone else's, like usual.

"Alden?" Professor McGonagall said.

"Conjuration is the art of bringing things into being; hence the opposite of vanishment," Hermione said smoothly. Professor McGonagall's eyebrows went up a bit, as if she was surprised. Hermione could see why; she looked like one of those giggly girls.

"Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall said shortly.

The rest of the class mainly consisted of Hermione answering the asked questions correctly, taking notes silently, and Sirius looking at her sideways. As soon as the bell rang, Hermione quickly placed everything in her bag and got out of there, fast.

"Hmm," Hermione mumbled under her breath as she read her schedule. Potions was next, with Professor Slughorn. She shoved the schedule into her bag as she headed toward the dungeons. Hermione arrived in the dimly lit dungeon, and she was the first there. In the back at his desk, was a very plump man that Hermione knew from a different life. Professor Slughorn- Looking younger. There wasn't much of difference, except for the fact his mustache was brown instead of white.

"Ah! The new girl!" he boomed. "Yes, yes. Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, I'm not sure what it was like in that old school of yours, but here, we have partners for Potions."

Hermione blinked. "Um, no. In my, er, old school, you could say, everyone had their own cauldrons."

"Oh, I'd prefer it that way, of course, but whatever the Headmaster says, I'll do," he said, waving a hand. He then began to flip through his drawer and look for something.

"Let's see, I have the partner papers somewhere... You have a new partner every week or so, so you don't get sick of that one person... Some people just aren't as kind as others, am I right? Here it is!" he exclaimed. He read down the list.

"You must be Hermione Alden. Right. You are paired with Peter Pettigrew and Severus Snape. You made the class an uneven number, so I'll just stick you in this group. Off you go, then. In the corner there," he said.

At the mention of Wormtail's name, Hermione did this barely audible gag. She cleared her throat just in time to hear the last part.  
"Thank you," she muttered and headed to the back.

First, the very man that betrayed her best friend's parents. She wanted to rip him apart. And then Snape, the professor that taunted her and always told her she wasn't good enough.

Everyone started to file into the classroom. Hermione kept her eyes on the ground and tried to avoid eye contact with the two people sitting next to her.

"Hi," a voice said to her left. Hermione lifted her head up and flinched. It was Peter Pettigrew- Large nose, watery eyes, a bit plump. He had a large smile on his face which Hermione barely managed to return.

_Remember_, Hermione told herself, _He's not evil yet. Just don't._

"Hello," she said, but her voice died out. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Er. Hi. I'm Hermione Alden," she introduced.

"Peter Pettigrew," he said, looking at her. "I thought I'd be stuck with Snivellus all week. Thank god."

"Shut up, the only reason you use that name is because Black and Potter do," a voice snapped to the right of Hermione. She turned and tried to keep a straight face. Snape, with the same hooked nose and greasy hair sat there in his robes. The only difference was that this Snape had no wrinkles and a few pimples along his hairline on account of his oily hair.

"Er, hello," Hermione managed to say. On one side, she had a traitor. On the other, she had a double agent. Snape just turned his head to the side and probably smirked.

"So," Peter said. Hermione turned her head. "What school did you use to go to?"

"Beauxbatons," Hermione said in a heartbeat.

"That's what I thought," he said, turning a color of red that did not suit him. Hermione forced herself not to gag and instead smiled a bit before looking up at Professor Slughorn.

"Okay, class! Today we are going to make The Draught of Living Death, just as a review from last year. Send one person at a time to the ingredients closet to get the sopophorus beans and the sloth brain. Carry on."

"I'll go get those," Hermione said at once to remove all awkward conversation. She got up and walked rather quickly to the closet. She opened it at once, and since she's never really been in the closet, it took her a while to find everything. When she finally found the sloth brain (She had brought her own beans), she reached up for it, but she was only inches away.

"Move, Alden," a voice said harshly from behind her. Hermione didn't have to turn around to know it was Sirius.

"I need to get this first," she said patiently. She looked around for a step ladder. She found one lying right next to her feet. Hermione wondered why she didn't notice it before, but none the less, she bent down to pick it up. In her effort, she was shoved to the side.

"Hey!" Hermione exclaimed, landing on the ground.

"It's your loss that you're not tall enough," Sirius snapped, and he easily snatched the jar from off of the shelf. Hermione scowled at him as he left the closet.

When Hermione finally got the brain, she headed back to the table. She could feel both Peter and Snape staring at her as she placed the jar on the table and looked in Peter's open textbook. She wondered how Peter got in this advanced class, but she decided to save that for later.

"Did you two add the wormwood and asphodel?" Hermione asked lightly.

"Yeah, and we stirred two times, er, clockwise," Peter said, squinting at the book.

"I did," Snape snapped.

"Sheesh, sorry," Peter muttered, turning a faint pink.

"Okay, and..." Hermione trailed off, taking her bag of beans out of her bag. She unscrewed the sloth brain and quickly scooped out a tablespoon of the stuff and dropped it into the cauldron.

She laid the beans out on the cutting board and took out her silver knife. She had already did this potion at home loads of times for practice. She at first didn't like cutting the beans, so she eventually gave up and just used The Half-Blood Prince's way. Who was right next to her. She realized that he didn't have his book out. She really didn't want to cut those beans, though. They were quite old, making them even more difficult to cut.

Right when Snape looked away, Hermione quickly grabbed the knife and squished the little bean with her silver knife. She scooped the liquid up and plopped it into the cauldron.

"Why'd ya do that?" Peter (calling him Wormtail in her head was just a little weird) asked.

"Do what?" Hermione fretted.

"Why'd you crush the bean?" Peter asked again. This time, Snape turned his head quickly to listen to the conversation.

"Because. Er. I dunno, the beans are hard to cut, and I just... Decided to crush... it," Hermione said, turning a bit pink and refusing to look Snape in the eye. He looked around, as if expecting his book to be open.

"Well, we'd better stir it," Hermione said lightly, changing the subject. She grabbed her stirrer, and this time, she followed the directions in the book and stirred it counter-clockwise, a light-pink hue.

When Hermione was sure both of them weren't looking, she gave the Draught a quick clockwise stir after her seventh counter. It turned nearly clear- Like foggy water. Snape looked back at the potion, and he did a double take.

"What-" he said, then cleared his throat. "How'd you do that?"

"Oh, nothing," Hermione said lightly, stirring as slowly as possible, waiting for him to turn away again. Peter was currently trying to grab a hold of Sirius' attention, so Hermione knew he would be distracted for a while. She wasn't the one to cheat, but it wasn't cheating. She technically hadn't even read that book yet. She was just taking some chances.

Snape, however, kept his eyes on her the entire seven stirs. Hermione didn't know what would happen to the potion, if she didn't give it another clockwise whirl, so she just closed her eyes and stirred it clockwise.

"What are you doing?" Snape said, a bit of triumph in his voice.

"I'm just... Trying a different way," Hermione, turning a bit pink. "Look, this is how I've always done it. It's not my fault you guys stir Potions so inaccurately," Hermione said smartly, remembering she was supposed to be from Beauxbatons. "Besides, I have no idea what happens if I don't keep on giving it a clockwise stir after every seventh counter."

Snape was silent for a bit. "It doesn't do anything. If you try to do it again, or in other words, skip on clockwise, it explodes."

Hermione stared at him in shock, then she realized that it made perfect sense for him to know. She then also realized that she was supposed to act all shocked and surprised.

"Well, we're done. What do we do now?" Hermione asked five minutes later. The potion was perfectly clear. Peter turned around and looked astounded.

"We're done?" he asked. "We're done. Good," he said awkwardly. Snape snorted.

"What do we do?" Hermione muttered. "Everyone's still working."

"We wait," he said simply.

"I'm gonna go see if Sirius' done," Peter announced, scrambling off to the front of the class. Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled out a book out, _The Multi-Universe Theory_. It was a muggle book, but it was still very interesting.

She was just beginning a new chapter, but she kept on feeling Snape staring at her, looking away, and then looking back. After about five minutes of this on and off staring, she finally gave up. She sighed, bookmarked her page with a picture of her, Harry, and Ron in the common room, and looked at Snape. (Her wand, her clothes, and that picture in her back pocket was the only thing she had brought with her.)

"Yes?" she asked.

"Nothing," he muttered, and turned away. Hermione continued to read on.

"Move, Alden," Sirius said from behind her, pushing her out of her stool and onto the floor.

"Hey! Hermione exclaimed.

"I need to talk to Peter," he snapped.

"You do?" Peter asked. "But you never come over here to talk to-"

Sirius elbowed Peter in the side.

"Ow!" he whined.

"Shut up and talk," Sirius demanded.

"Need a hand?"

Hermione turned her head, her heart probably skipping a beat. It was Remus Lupin, the first time he had personally talked to her. And he had his hand extended towards her.

"Thanks," Hermione said, taking it as Remus pulled her up.

"Sorry about him," Remus muttered. "He's not usually like this."

"You're not him, why are you apologizing?" Hermione inquired, but was smiling.

"Well, if he isn't, who is?"

"Moony, stop socializing," another said from behind her. Hermione knew the voice so well she almost turned around to hug what she thought was Harry. She reminded herself that that was impossible.

"Why?" Remus said.

"Just because," he snapped. James came into view, but only for a second as he grabbed Remus by the forearm and pulled him towards Sirius. Remus did this Help-me-I'm-so-sorry face at Hermione, and she covered her mouth to hide a giggle.

"What are you still doing here, Alden?" Sirius snapped. Hermione blinked and stopped giggling. She was about to walk away, until she noticed Sirius kneading her book with his elbow, using it as an armrest. Hermione narrowed her eyes. It _was _her seat, after all. Hermione slowly bent down and grabbed her wand from her bag, right next to Sirius' leg. Just as she was about to stand up, a wrist clamped down on her wrist. She jumped.

"Thinking of hexing me, Alden?" Sirius snarled. He held her wrist so that Hermione's wand was still pointed at his face. She looked from Sirius to her wand.

"Condolesco," she said smartly. Suddenly, Sirius instantly let go of her wrist and gripped his head.

"FUCK!" he yelled, shutting his eyes and running his hands through his hair. "What the fuck is this?"

Sirius slid off his seat in pain, consistently cursing out loud and under his breath.

"Thank you," Hermione said pleasantly, sitting back in her seat. She smoothed her book back out. "You can leave now."

"Don't tell me what to- FUCK!" Sirius said again. Hermione giggled.

"Shut up," he moaned.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Hermione said. She waved her wand, clearing the hex- It was a hex causing a head splitting migraine. Sirius removed his hands from his head and started to pant.

"Now, get out of my face," Hermione snapped. Sirius glared at her, James doing the same. Peter and Remus had this look of astonishment and amazement on their faces.

"You'd better watch out, Alden," Sirius hissed before heading off with his table with James.

"Bye, Remus," Hermione said pleasantly before opening her book once again.

* * *

**That's it for now! I'm currently in Taiwan, so in New York, it's 12 AM, but here, it's 12 PM. I need to go eat lunch. Toodles!**


	3. Burned

**Author's Note: I am so, so sorry I haven't been updating! Three times I had to re-write this, because my really, really, INCREDIBLY stupid brother. He unplugged my laptop when it was charging, making it turn off. AND I DIDN'T SAVE, DAMMIT. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I'm trying to find a song that really describes how Hermione feels about Sirius and vice versa. If I find one while writing the story, I shall put it at the end. I probably won't, so if someone would please leave a suggestion, that would be great! Love ya guys!**

* * *

_Previous Chapter_

_"Condolesco," she said smartly. Suddenly, Sirius instantly let go of her wrist and gripped his head._

_"FUCK!" he yelled, shutting his eyes and running his hands through his hair. "What the fuck is this?"_

_Sirius slid off his seat in pain, consistently cursing out loud and under his breath._

_"Thank you," Hermione said pleasantly, sitting back in her seat. She smoothed her book back out. "You can leave now."_

_"Don't tell me what to- FUCK!" Sirius said again. Hermione giggled._

_"Shut up," he moaned._

_"Hurts, doesn't it?" Hermione said. She waved her wand, clearing the hex- It was a hex causing a head splitting migraine. Sirius removed his hands from his head and started to pant._

_"Now, get out of my face," Hermione snapped. Sirius glared at her, James doing the same. Peter and Remus had this look of astonishment and amazement on their faces._

_"You'd better watch out, Alden," Sirius hissed before heading off with his table with James._

_"Bye, Remus," Hermione said pleasantly before opening her book once again._

* * *

Hermione glared at Black before actually looking at her book. Her face of disgust disappeared as she began to read again, as it always did. And just like a few moments again, Snape was staring her down. Hermione didn't even pretend that she didn't notice him.

"Yes?" she asked at once, putting her book down. He shrugged.

"Just surprised-" he began to say.

"That I'm not one of those idiotic, attention-seeking girls? I've heard," Hermione said, almost in a snap. Snape was silent, perhaps because he was a bit surprised that a girl was talking snap to him.

"Well, yes," he said finally. "Why exactly haven't you fallen under his spell?"

"What spell? Anyone who treats people that way instantly falls under my list of unattractive people, and believe me, my standards are quite low," Hermione said. Snape snorted.

"Is Potter there?" he asked in a sneer.

"I haven't really talked to him yet."

"You don't have to. He'll go over to you and ask if you find him attractive."

Hermione chuckled softly as she placed her book and wand back in her bag.

For the remainder of the class, Hermione and Snape talked while Peter tried to cut in every once in a while. They only made small talk, about classes or something. Hermione was surprised that Snape was actually a decent person to talk to. She finally understood why Lily used to be friends with him. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Sirius sideways-glancing over at Hermione, looking away, and then doing a double-take. His eyes narrowed as he stood up, nudging at James to come with him.

"There's just no getting rid of him, is there?" Hermione said with a sigh.

"What the fuck are you doing, talking to Snivellus?" Sirius snapped.

"So I can't talk to a classmate these days?" Hermione said.

"You can talk to whoever, I don't care- Just not to a Slytherin," James piped in, talking to her directly for the first time.  
"Well, why don't I just do whatever you tell me to do, if you care about me so much," Hermione said rolling her eyes, crossing her arms.

"That's right- Wait! Shut up!" James barked. Hermione remained silent, and folded her hands in her lap.

"What, can't think of anything to say?" James said. Yep, he was so far being a jerk. Perhaps he didn't know she was friends with Lily Evans yet.

"If I said what I'm thinking right now I'd be expelled."

"Oh, really?" Sirius sneered. His sneer reminded Hermione strongly of Malfoy. She remained silent and decided to tap her fingers on the table.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Sirius exploded.

"I was told not to talk to a Slytherin," Hermione said innocently.

"I'm in Gryffindor, you incomprehensive moron!"

"Well, considering that majority of your family's in Slytherin, and you're just as terrible as them, I just figured it was close enough," Hermione said smoothly.

The bell ran through the dungeon just as Sirius and James' mouths popped open in surprise.

"Well, there's the bell," Hermione said lightly, picking her bag up. Without another word, she walked out of the dungeon. She headed off to Charms, the last class she had before a free period, and then lunch. She sighed- Only one more class with Black, and then she was done for the morning.

"Please, please no assigned seats," Hermione muttered as she stepped into the classroom. Hermione first thought that there was no one there- Until she realized there was a woman at the very back of the room, cleaning a table.

"Uh- Hi," Hermione said awkwardly. She looked up and smiled. She had long, honey-colored hair not much unlike her own. It was in an messy bun, and she had on teacher's robes, but made it match her figure. Her amber eyes shone, and Hermione knew she was no older than twenty-five.

"Hi," she said in a melodious voice. "I'm Professor Clair. You must be the new girl."

"That's me," Hermione said, smiling slightly.

"There are assigned seats, I'm sorry to say. This year it is required," she said with a sympathetic smile. "I figured that the other teachers would make the seating alphabetical, so I decided to to switch it up a bit. Just let me go find my seating chart..." she trailed off, giving the table she was cleaning a final wipe with her cloth before hurrying to her desk. She picked up a piece of paper with two perfectly manicured fingers and held it properly in her other hand, placing the cloth on the table.

"You are Hermione Alden, correct?" Without waiting for an answer, she went on. "And you sit next to... James Potter, in the back right corner."

Hermione took a breath of relief; it wasn't Sirius. But then she realized the person really sitting next to her was almost just as bad. "Thank you," she smiled, heading off to the back corner.

Sheesh, why am I always in the back? Hermione wondered. She sat to the left of the desk and placed her bag on the ground.

"Miss Alden?" Professor Clair said. Hermione poked her head up; she was just bending over to get her books.

"Yes?"

"Class doesn't start for another ten minutes."

"I know, I like being early. I hope that doesn't make anything inconvenient."

"No, it's fine, Jut thought you didn't know. Would you please tell the other students where they sit as they come in? I need to finish cleaning the desks," Professor Clair said.

"Sure," Hermione said with a smile. She went up to the desk , and Professor Clair gave her the seating chart. Just as Professor Clair picked up her cloth and went to the back of the room, two girls entered the room. Hermione noticed at once that they had green and silver ties- Slytherin.

They were twins, obviously, but it took a while for Hermione to realize that. They both had on so much makeup that it was hard to tell. They had long, white-blonde hair, icy, cold blue eyes and long noses. They smirked at Hermione in unison, and she was reminded strongly of Malfoy.

"And you two are...?" Hermione asked politely. They looked at each other, like, _I can't believe she doesn't know us!_

"Christi and Misty Johnson," the one on the left said. Hermione glanced over the sheet, searching for the names.

"Christi sits in the back, next to my table," Hermione read, "And Misty sits right here," she said, pointing to the table diagonally across from her. What must have been Christi went to the back, and Misty sat in the front.

_Talk about the exact opposites of Fred and George,_ Hermione thought to herself. Just when she thought that these girls couldn't get more serious, someone else walked in.

His hair was so black that it made James' hair look brown. It was cut like a superman's cut, he had blue eyes that didn't match his face, and freckles across his nose. He was built like a Quidditch player, which he probably was.

"Hey, Bryce!" Christi called. Professor Clair looked up for a second, then looked back down and continued to wipe the table in front of Christi's. Her eyebrows were only slight raised, as if she was used to this.

"Have a date this Saturday for Hogsmeade, Bryce?" Misty asked. Then, she leaned forward and said in a low, almost deathly voice: "Do you?"

"Ladies, ladies," Bryce said, holding his hands out in defense. "The problem is, that there's two of you and only one of me."  
The joke was so overused and not humorous that Hermione rolled her eyes, yet the twins giggled so hard that they almost fell out of their seats.

"And besides, I already have a date," he said simply. He glanced at Hermione and smirked. Hermione just looked for someone named Bryce on the list.

"Two seats behind Misty," Hermione said automatically.

"Which one?"

"There's only one person in the entire room where there are desks behind hers."

"No need to be so rude," this boy named Bryce snapped. When Hermione was looking for his name, she found out that his last name was Anderson. Bryce Anderson. It even /sounded/ like a jerk's name.

He sat there and leaned back in his chair, Misty sighing at batting her fake eyelashes at him.

Soon, the other students started to file in. Hermione gave them their seats as quickly as possible.

"Thank you, Hermione, I'll take it from here," Professor Clair said just as the Marauders walked in.

"What are you doing at her desk, Alden? Asking for a tampon?" Sirius sneered. The class was relatively quiet, so Sirius' snide remark was heard throughout the class. They all chuckled and giggled and such, Professor Clair frowning.

"Black-" she started to say.

"No, it's fine," Hermione said. "Oh, and James sits next to-"

"Don't call me James," he snapped.

"You wish," Sirius added, rolling his eyes.

"What? It's grown on me. Lily uses it whenever she talks about you, and that's like, all the time."

"Really? You sure? Positive?" James gushed suddenly, voice sounding mature and deeper. People snickered.

"No, she still hates you. Potter, you sit next to me," Hermione said tiredly, going to her seat, snickering following her. As soon as Hermione sat down, James sat down next to her and started to shoot her down with questions.

"You talk to Lily? I thought her friends left. Are you guys, like best friends? Does she talk about me?"

"Oh, she talks about you," Hermione said with a harsh laugh. "But usually it's just complaining."

James was silent for a good, solid ten seconds as the class started to talk again; class didn't start for another three minutes.

"Can you tell her, like good things about me?" he asked silently.

"I would, but so far I can't think of anything."

"Well, I can help you with that," he said pompously, totally missing the insult. "First off, I'm excellent at Quidditch-"

"James, I'm not going to tell her anything good about you because you've been treating me and other people poorly," Hermione snapped. "The most I'll say is that your ego is surprisingly big."

"That's not the only thing that's surprisingly big."

"Ugh," Hermione groaned, running her hands through her hair. "Would you stop?"

"I didn't know you were friends with Lily! Otherwise, I wouldn't have-"

"Oh, my god Potter. She doesn't like you, and she never will," Hermione said. Well, lied- They did end up together eventually, did they.

"Shut up!" James snapped, suddenly on her bad side again. He had found out that begging didn't work, and was now back to teasing her. Hermione sighed; you can't win.

"Class starts now! Wands out and textbooks away!" Professor Clair. Hermione was the only one who had her textbook out; apparently this was normal.

"Alright, people! You know the drill!" she said, clapping her hands together and smiling. She caught a hold of Hermione's startled expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we have practical lessons. On Mondays we practice dueling with charms only, with your table partner."

Hermione nodded, although not thrilled with having to duel with James. At the same time, there was an ear-shattering scraping of chairs, which made Hermione cover her ears.

"What the-?" Hermione said, ears still covered.

"Start- now!" Professor Clair said. "Silent charms!"

Suddenly, Hermione was thrown against the wall behind her with a loud thud. Heads turned her way as she slid on to the floor.

"Nice, Prongs!" a voice said in the crowd.

"Come on, Alden!" James sneered. "Come at me!"

Hermione scrambled up as quickly as possible, and snatched her wand off of her desk.

"You want a duel? Fine," Hermione snarled. She gave her wand an angry slash in the air, sending a number charms toward him. James barely managed to block them. Hermione continued to rip her wand across the air, taking steps forward, James taking steps back. Worry began to come across his face; he was now sweating.

Heads began to turn, looking at the duel. James hadn't been able to get a single charm in for a good three minutes, Hermione still going strong. She could see his shield begin to get weaker and weaker. Majority of the class was now watching them intently.

Hermione smirked as she sent a final charm at him- Expelliarmus. It was so strong that it broke through James' defense charm and sent him flying against the wall, breaking through about three partners still dueling. He slammed against the wall with such force that it made a pot on the shelf above him fall and land on his head, making him curse out loud.

The class broke out in laughter, Hermione smirking. She saw many people- Remus looking shocked, yet trying to hide a smile, Sirius just gaping, and the Slytherins going silent with laughter, Snape being among them. Professor Clair was looking like she had just gotten slapped across the face.

Hermione flicked her wand one more time, red sparks. She aimed them at the flower on James' head, buried in soil. It lit on fire and quickly burned to ashes. Hermione calmly walked back to her seat and sat down, smiling at the class.

"That's how I roll," she said under her breath.

* * *

**Couldn't find a song, dammit. Sorry it took so long to upload.**


	4. Swimming Isn't So Fun Anymore

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for all of the reviews! You guys are epic! For that, I shall reward you with a chapter. Yay! I still can't find a song, but I have a song that will soon describe their upcoming relationship. I can't say what the song is, yet, because then you'd know where the plot is going! Spoilers are evil.**

* * *

_Previous Chapter_

_"You want a duel? Fine," Hermione snarled. She gave her wand an angry slash in the air, sending a number charms toward him. James barely managed to block them. Hermione continued to rip her wand across the air, taking steps forward, James taking steps back. Worry began to come across his face; he was now sweating._

_Heads began to turn, looking at the duel. James hadn't been able to get a single charm in for a good three minutes, Hermione still going strong. She could see his shield begin to get weaker and weaker. Majority of the class was now watching them intently._

_Hermione smirked as she sent a final charm at him- Expelliarmus. It was so strong that it broke through James' defense charm and sent him flying against the wall, breaking through about three partners still dueling. He slammed against the wall with such force that it made a pot on the shelf above him fall and land on his head, making him curse out loud._

_The class broke out in laughter, Hermione smirking. She saw many people- Remus looking shocked, yet trying to hide a smile, Sirius just gaping, and the Slytherins going silent with laughter, Snape being among them. Professor Clair was looking like she had just gotten slapped across the face._

_Hermione flicked her wand one more time, red sparks. She aimed them at the flower on James' head, buried in soil. It lit on fire and quickly burned to ashes. Hermione calmly walked back to her seat and sat down, smiling at the class._

_"That's how I roll," she said under her breath._

* * *

"Is it true?" Lily asked as soon as Hermione sat down for lunch. After Charms, she sped off to the library. Not for studying, but just for some alone time. She appreciated that people were finally recognizing her for her smarts, but it felt like they were gawking rather than admiring.

"What?" Hermione asked, but knew exactly what she was talking about.

"You beat Potter in a Charms duel? I mean, _burned_ Potter in a duel?" she gushed, so excited that she was almost jumping in her seat.

"I guess you could put it that way," Hermione said mischievously. "Word gets around here, huh?"

"I think some of the ghosts do it. But that's amazing!" Lily exclaimed, not to be distracted. "No on besides Lupin has ever beat him in a duel, not even Black! Actually, scratch that- Lupin didn't beat him, but he was close. You're the first one to beat him!" Lily said so quickly that it was in a single breath. She took a deep breath.

"Wow," Hermione said, raising her eyebrows. "I guess you really hate him, huh?"

"Don't you?"

"I don't really hate anyone."

"Whatever," Lily said, starting to pile potato salad on her plate. Hermione took two ham sandwiches.

"Anyways, on a different subject. What classes do you have after this?" Lily asked.

"History of Magic and Herbologoy, and then a free period." Hermione said. "You?"

"Ancient Runes, free period, and Charms."

"Oh," she said awkwardly. They ate in silence for a while.

"Evans!" James said, almost coming from nowhere and sandwiching himself between Hermione and Lily, quite literally pushing Hermione about three feet down the bench.

"Get out of my face, Potter," Lily snarled.

"Come on, Evans! This Saturday, you and me, Hogsmeade."

"No!"

"Please?"

"Potter," Lily growled, gripping her fork in her right hand tightly. Hermione watched the show at a respectable distance.

"Yeah, you'll be saying that, except you'll be screaming it."

"You. Get out. _Now,_" Hermione said, suddenly standing up and thrusting her wand to the back of his head. He flinched.

"Stand up!" Hermione demanded. James did more than that- He almost tripped over the bench as he did this awkward run-walk back to his seat. Hermione sat back down and took a bite of her sandwich, Lily gaping at her.

"Hermione!" Lily said.

"What? He was being a creep!"

"Oh, he's said more suggestive things. I am so glad I'm your friend."

"Yeah, you'd be in trouble if you were my enemy."

They finished their lunch, talking about classes and complaining about Potter and Black. Finally, they went their separate ways- Lily was off to Ancient Runes, while Hermione went to History of Magic.

History of Magic went by slowly. There were no assigned seats, so Hermione took a seat in the back, quite alone. Nobody sat next to her, which Hermione liked very much. The rest was the usual- The boring, monotone voice of Professor Binns and taking notes. ***I don't think you guys want me to explain HOM. It was really, really boring, okay?***

Hermione was out as soon as the bell rang. She always payed attention in History of Magic, but it was so boring that she didn't bother taking notes in the second half of the period and just started to doodle on her scratch paper. Hermione prayed when the bell rang that Herbology would be a bit more interesting. When she arrived to Greenhouse 4, everyone was already there.

"Oh, there you are!" Professor Sprout said. It was weird, she looked just like how Hermione remembered her. She assumed that she just doesn't really age.

"Class started three minutes ago! Everyone has already gotten in their groups!" she scolded. Hermione blinked in surprise.

"But- My schedule said 3:30," Hermione said in confusion, looking down at her watch.

"Oh," she said softly.

"You're new to the school, I guess I'll let it slip. I'll just let you choose a group," she said, waving a hand. Before Hermione could thank Professor Sprout, she cupped her hands around her mouth.

"'Kay, everyone! Everyone get out their dragon-hide gloves and wands, today is a tricky one! Handle a Devil's Snare without using any fire- They're growing, and they need to be moved to bigger pots, which will be at your stations! Keep away from the necks! Okay, get on with it!" she yelled in Hermione's ear, nearly making her trip over her own feet. Rubbing her ears, she went off to find a suitable group. Hermione headed in the opposite direction of Sirius and James for a start.

Hermione was about to give up and work by herself, until she saw the back of someone's head, struggling with the Devil's Snare. Hermione walked up behind him.

"Need help?" she asked. The boy yelped, and the Devil's Snare slapped him across the face. Hermione grabbed one of the vines and twisted it in a knot. It quickly went limp, but there were still many more vines.

"Thanks," the boy said, finally turning around. He had black eyes and black hair, and he must have been Chinese or something. He had on a Ravenclaw tie and a Prefect's badge.

"Don't mention it. Do you have a partner?" Hermione said, smiling. He was quite good-looking. He shook his head.

"I like working alone, but I don't think I'll be able to," he said, side-ways glancing at the plant, which was trying to slither up his shoulder.

"Hermione Alden, right?" he asked, pointing a finger at her. She nodded.

"Sean Chang," he said, holding out a hand. Hermione took it. A small bell rang in her head- Was she meeting Cho Chang's father?

"Spelled C-H-A-N-G," he said quickly, as if he could read her mind. Hermione nodded. So she was.

"So," she said, a bit awkwardly. She slipped her dragon-hide gloves on nervously.

"Just... tie the vines in knots. It doesn't matter what type," she said quickly. He nodded and got straight to work, just like a Ravenclaw.

In only ten minutes, her and Sean were the first ones done; Hermione being the one who did most of the knots. Whatever Sean did in those five minutes before Hermione met him must have really pissed them off.

"Nice... knots," Sean said awkwardly as he plopped the plant down in the large plant and pushed it away. There was sweat trickling down his side burn.

"Thanks," she said quietly. It was silent aside from the talking and curses coming from the class.

"So," Hermione began awkwardly. "Seeing anyone?" She already sort of knew the answer.

"Yeah," he said. "Sky Lee. Sixth year prefect, you might know her."

"I don't, but she sounds sweet," Hermione smiled.

"Oh, she's amazing," he said, with a chuckle. "You don't want to hear me drone on and on about a stranger, though."

"I'm patient," Hermione said, leaning on the table. Sean flashed her a smile before explaining how they met. They literally ran into each other last year in Hogsmeade, and Sky spilled butterbeer all over him.

"She insists it was on purpose," Sean said, smiling. "But that's that. You?"

"No. Well- No," she said, about to talk about Ron. She technically wasn't seeing him anymore.

"You sound confused," he said.

"No, I've got it. I just don't think he does," Hermione muttered. Sean laughed just as the bell rang.

"See you later," he said, tossing his gloves off. "Ravenclaw house meeting. Professor Clair will have my head if I don't get there in time."

"Bye," Hermione said. She had already decided to go off to the school yard to do her homework, considering it was a nice day.

She pushed the big, wooden doors open to the outside corridor. It was filled with students walking to the school yard and sitting on the rail, talking. Hermione pushed past them, occasionally saying, "Sorry," or "Excuse me." Under her breath, she was cursing at them in creative and colorful ways. When she finally burst through to the school yard, she took a deep breath. It was almost just like it was when she left, except the lake looked a bit bluer. Otherwise, the trees and grass looked the same. The only big difference were the students.

Hermione sat under the tree that she, Harry, and Ron so often occupied. Hermione got out all of her books and stacked them in a neat pile, in order from what she would do first.

"Oi, Moony!" Hermione heard in the distance. She poked her head up, and not fifty yards away were the Marauders.

"What?"

"Would you go get my books? They're in the common room."

"Why can't you get them yourself?"

"I've got places to be and people to do."

"Don't you mean, 'see'?"

"Excuse me- And _ladies_ to do. I don't do dudes."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that and go get your books," Hermione heard him grumble.

"I owe you, Moony," Sirius shouted as he walked off.

"That's the millionth time I've heard that."

Hermione turned her attention back to her books, opening her Charms book first. The page with the assignment was bookmarked with her picture- The one of her, Ron, and Harry in the common room, laughing. Hermione saw people walk closer to her, and she snapped the book shut, bookmark safe. Anyone would see Harry as James.

Suddenly, Hermione was lifted off her feet, as if suspended in the air by the ankle. Hermione shrieked in a mixture of fright and surprise.

"What the-?" she screeched, and nearly everyone in the seventh and sixth year was there. Everyone burst out in laughter, seeing as Lily was her only friend, and she was in another class. Her spirits lifted- Maybe Sean would stand up for her. Then, she realized with a pit in her gut that he was at that Ravenclaw meeting. Hermione was twirled around in the air up-side down, and she saw a particular long-haired boy, pointing his wand at her.

"Let me down, Black!" Hermione screamed, kicking the air in frustration. Sirius just laughed, James by his side, snickering as well. Hermione suddenly understood why Sirius insisted Remus to go get his books- He wouldn't have allowed this.

"Oh no, Alden. Whatever are you going to do?" he said, flicking his wand. This caused Hermione to fly about another ten feet in the air. Hermione shrieked again, everyone laughing even harder. They were forming a crowd, all laughing at her.

Hermione remembered the same hatred and grudge she felt in the first year, and whenever Draco tormented her. She hated the feeling, just as much as she despised Black. And she just didn't want to take it anymore. She didn't exactly have a choice, however. Her wand was on the ground, next to her books.

Speaking of which, James was currently going through them and lighting them on fire with his wand. Her books. Her bookmark. Her only picture of her past.

"GET ME THE FUCK DOWN, YOU FUCKING DOG!" Hermione screamed at the top of her lungs. Sirius' expression faltered a bit about the dog part, but he just smirked.

"Oh, you're worrying about your precious books? You ugly nerd," Sirius sneered.

"STOP!" she screamed, almost begged.

"Oh, you want to get down?" he taunted. "You can suck it, bitch. I'll let you down if you follow a few commands."

"WHAT DO YOU WANT, BLACK?" she shrieked. The blood rushing to her head was starting to hurt.

"First off, for you to stop screaming. And then, to repeat after me- 'I am a fat, ugly fucking cunt.'"

"NO WAY!" Hermione yelped as everyone laughed even harder.

"I'm not letting you down, Alden," he said, almost in a sing-song voice.

"LET- ME- DOWN!" she said with such force that Sirius blinked. He recovered with a sneer.

"Fine. Hope you can swim, Alden."

"What- What are you doing you stupid-"

Hermione was cut off by her own screaming- Sirius had flicked his wand, sending Hermione through the air and flying towards the lake.

Hermione screeched as she hit the water- It felt just as bad as hitting the ground would probably be. Hermione decided that there's no way she would do the walk of shame she usually took. Hermione swam to the surface, laughter reaching her ears as soon as her head appeared.

"Don't seem so smooth now, do you Alden?" Sirius sneered. Hermione climbed out of the lake, clothes absolutely soaked. This just made everyone laugh so hard it became silent for many people. Hermione walked over to Sirius, her having a complete poker face. Sirius was laughing so hard that he had his arm on James' shoulder for support, who was also laughing, holding one of Hermione's burned books. Hermione looked at them both, only about three feet away from them.

Hermione reached over and snatched her book out of his hand- Yes, this was the book. People were now laughing at her apparent stupidity- Where is the reaction?

Hermione opened the book to her bookmark, took it out, and stared at it. It was not fine at all. It was so charred and burned that it was unrecognizable- Hermione couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. She felt a tear roll down her already wet cheek- Harry's face was there only moments ago. James was there, yes- But he was the exact opposite of Harry.

"Aw, she's crying!" Sirius howled.

Harry and Fred (Or was it George?) rushing towards Malfoy to beat the absolute shit out of him, right in front of the teachers.

Hermione slapping Malfoy straight across the face.

Ron and Neville taking on Goyle, Crabbe, and Malfoy in their first year.

All of these fights, all of these violent scenes rushed to Hermione. Hermione wasn't the one for violence, but her wand was all the way over- Not by the tree, next to her charred books. No, it was in James' pocket.

"Like it? It's my souvenir," James said, taking it out and pretending to admire it. Sirius laughed harshly.

"Oh! I understand," Hermione said. "I get it. Why you two are torturing me."

"You finally looked in a mirror?" Sirius sneered.

"Well, I get Black. It's because you're exactly like your entire family," Hermione said snidely. Sirius' sneer slid off in an instant. Hermione went on. Seeing as the crowd was completely quiet, Hermione spoke as loud as possible so every single person could hear.

"Treating people like they're nothing. You're so proud, and you think you're so different from them because you're in Gryffindor. Being in Slytherin doesn't make you evil. Torturing people- That's what makes you such a little shit," Hermione hissed. "You're not any different from your nasty relatives. You're exactly like them. And you," Hermione said, hissing at James, who looked just as shocked as Sirius.

"Do you want to know why Lily Evans hates you? It's because you are such a arrogant, cruel, and just plain mean attention-seeking bitch," Hermione snapped.

And now, Hermione thought, for the physical part.

She leaned forward and snatched her wand out of James' hand. Then, she pulled her fist back punched Sirius as hard as she could in the nose.

Sirius literally fell back onto the grass, cursing and clutching his nose, the crowd exploding. Hermione caught a glimpse of it; it looked strangely bent. She felt a sense of pride in her. Hermione turned quickly and slashed her wand through the air, sending a hex at James- Furnunculus. James' face suddenly broke out in horrible, disgusting, and quite painful boils.

"Hexing you wasn't enough," Hermione snapped before speeding off to the castle. She was going to have a shower, put on some clean clothes, and try to restore the burnt picture clutched in her fist.

* * *

**Ouch. This is a painful chapter. I tried to re-write this scene many times, because I just couldn't think of a good enough punishment for Sirius and James. Sirius' pretty little nose is now bent, so he'll definitely think he has it worse than James. Later, peeps!**


	5. Never Going Back

_Previous Chapter_

_"Oh! I understand," Hermione said. "I get it. Why you two are torturing me."_

_"You finally looked in a mirror?" Sirius sneered._

_"Well, I get Black. It's because you're exactly like your entire family," Hermione said snidely. Sirius' sneer slid off in an instant. Hermione went on. Seeing as the crowd was completely quiet, Hermione spoke as loud as possible so every single person could hear._

_"Treating people like they're nothing. You're so proud, and you think you're so different from them because you're in Gryffindor. Being in Slytherin doesn't make you evil. Torturing people- That's what makes you such a little shit," Hermione hissed. "You're not any different from your nasty relatives. You're exactly like them. And you," Hermione said, hissing at James, who looked just as shocked as Sirius._

_"Do you want to know why Lily Evans hates you? It's because you are such a arrogant, cruel, and just plain mean attention-seeking bitch," Hermione snapped._

_And now, Hermione thought, for the physical part._

_She leaned forward and snatched her wand out of James' hand. Then, she pulled her fist back punched Sirius as hard as she could in the nose._

_Sirius literally fell back onto the grass, cursing and clutching his nose, the crowd exploding. Hermione caught a glimpse of it; it looked strangely bent. She felt a sense of pride in her. Hermione turned quickly and slashed her wand through the air, sending a hex at James- Furnunculus. James' face suddenly broke out in horrible, disgusting, and quite painful boils._

_"Hexing you wasn't enough," Hermione snapped before speeding off to the castle. She was going to have a shower, put on some clean clothes, and try to restore the burnt picture clutched in her fist._

* * *

Hermione sat on her bed in a perfectly dry nightgown. It was very simple- White satin, tight fitted, long sleeved, v-neck, falling just above the knees. Her hair was a wet still, but instead smelling of smelly lake water, it had a nice rose scent to it.

She pointed her wand at the picture one final time; No matter what Hermione tried, she couldn't get the picture to restore itself. It remained charred and forever scarred. She could easily restore her books, which she conjured as soon as she reached her dorm; even before she showered. For some reason, the picture was very stubborn. Hermione was beginning to get very frustrated.

"Come on, you little..." Hermione muttered again, rapping it over and over again with her wand.

She despised Sirius and James, every bit of them. She should have hexed Black. Hermione decided to go to the bookshelf that they had in the common room- They had one, unlike the one she was used to. As soon as she stepped, she was crushed by someone hugging her very tightly.

"Oomph- Ah!" Hermione said. She saw red flaming hair and almost laughed, but hugged her back. "What, Lily?"

"I heard what they did! Oh, they are horrible people! Did they really burn your books?"

Hermione was silent. "Yeah," she said silently. Lily let go of her.

"Oh, that's not all," Lily muttered sympathetically. "What else?"

Hermione reluctantly took out her charred picture of her, Harry, and Ron.

"The last picture of my family," Hermione muttered, forcing herself not to cry. It wasn't really her family, but it was extremely close. Lily was silent as she stared at the unrecognizable picture.

"Wow," she muttered. "I always knew they were evil, but I didn't know they would go this far."

"I hate both of them," Hermione said softly.

"I know, hon. But on another subject, I love your nightgown."

Hermione managed to smile slightly. "Thanks, Lils. You always know what to say."

"Of course I do. Now, get some sleep. Put on your brave face."

* * *

Hermione waited for Lily in the common room the next morning. Today, she still couldn't manage to find a skirt longer than the one she wore the previous day. She did, however, find about thirty other pairs of shoes in a secret compartment on the side of the dresser. Still no black flats- She had to go with the little three-inch heels. They were better than the wedges, at least.

"Hermione, you there?" she heard Lily call from the top of the stairs. She didn't question why Hermione wasn't sleeping in her dorm, and Hermione preferred it that way.

"Yeah!"

"'Kay," she said, hurrying down the stairs. "I needed to make sure that Potter and Black weren't here."

"If they were, do you think I'd still be here?"

"Fair point. Let's go down."

..oOo...

"Hermione, you're being ridiculous."

"Just check!"

Lily rolled her eyes as she scoped the Great Hall.

"No, he's not here."

"Good," Hermione said, stepping into the Great Hall.

"That was not very brave at all, making me check if Black is here. You call yourself a Gryffindor?" Lily said, elbowing her in the sides. "Besides, everyone is still staring at you."

"When have they not? I'm not being cowardly, I'm just avoiding a show. Is there something wrong with not wanting attention?"

"You get that without trying."

"I know, that's what I just said."

They ate their breakfast in silence, trying to ignore everyone staring at them.

"Whatever you do, do not look at the people entering the Great Hall," Lily muttered. Of course, this made Hermione look at the entrance.

"What did I just tell you?" Lily exclaimed. Hermione glanced back, barely getting a glance at the Marauders.

"You never tell someone to not look. It'll make them look."

"I don't think he notices you. Good."

"What do they look like? I want to know how good my hex was."

Lily chuckled. "Well, Potter has three band-aids- One on his forehead, cheek, and chin. Black has a white bandage across his nose. Remus looks like he's still trying hard not to laugh, and Pettigrew keeps on asking if they're okay. But that's that. Say, what classes do you have today?"

"I have a free period right after this."

Suddenly, just as she said it, a tiny, adorable little owl not unlike Pigwidgeon, swooped down and dropped a note scrolled-up right in front of her plate.

"What? Why am I getting mail?" Hermione wondered out loud. "I don't really have anyone to write to."

"Maybe it's from your relatives in... Where are you from, again?"

Hermione realized that she never told Lily about herself.

"I moved here from Beauxbatons. I'm from France."

"France, then. Your relatives in France probably miss you."

"I don't think so," Hermione muttered, but opened the little note. There, in lacy, loopy handwriting, was a small paragraph.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I may have found a solution to your, ah, "problem". Please come to my office whenever you have a free period. I hope to see you then._

_- Professor Dumbledore_

"Problem?" Lily read over her shoulder. Hermione jumped; she didn't realize that Lily was watching her.

"Oh. Yes. I need a place to... sleep," Hermione made up.

"I wondered where you've been sleeping."

"There's no room in the dorms, so I've been using one of the teacher's rooms."

"Really? You're so lucky! I heard they have their own bathrooms."

"They do," Hermione said in an amused tone. "But anyways- This is great! I'm heading down right now!"

Hermione was up and almost running towards the door.

"Wait- Hey! You didn't finish your breakfast!" Lily called.

"I'll eat later!" Hermione said as she turned out of the Great Hall. As soon as she was out of sight from all of the students, Hermione sprinted as fast as she could up the stairs and down corridors.

Hermione reached the gargoyles, and she groaned.

"Er- Can you please let me through? Dumbledore sent me here," Hermione panted. They didn't budge. Hermione looked at the note, which was still clutched in her fist. She quickly flattened it out and re-read it multiple times. There was no sign of a password anywhere. Then, as Hermione squinted at it, she noticed something. Some letters were a bit thicker, but only just a bit.

_I may have found a solution to your, ah, "pro**b**lem". Pl**ea**se come to my office whe**n**ever you have a free period. I hope to **s**ee you then._

"B-e-a-n-s," Hermione spelled out loud. "Beans?"

The gargoyles still didn't move. Hermione sighed in frustration.

"Beans... Beans- Wait! I got it! Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans!"

The gargoyles leaped to the side, and Hermione almost ran into them by running past them.

Hermione stopped an inch in front of the door, and she knocked on it, panting.

"Come in," he said. Hermione opened the door with a bit too much enthusiasm- It would have slammed into some fragile looking vials if Hermione didn't catch it.

"You have a solution, Professor?" Hermione panted, closing the door and coming a bit closer.

"Perhaps," he said kindly. "Please. Sit."

Hermione took the seat in front of his desk, heart still racing a bit.

"I have looked through some books. Your situation is a bit unusual, so to speak. I have never encountered one like it. I did discover something, though. Have you ever heard of white gold time-turners?"

Hermione shook her head.

"White gold time-turners are a bit unusual- Instead of making you travel back in time, they send you forward."

"Really? That's great! Can I get one?" Hermione said quickly at once. Dumbledore chuckled, almost sadly as he shook his head.

"Hold on, Miss Granger. These time-turners- They don't send you forward in time permanently. Only for periods of time, and then you come back."

Hermione took it in, her stomach twisting in a knot.

"So... I can't go back," Hermione muttered.

"I'm sorry," Dumbledore said quietly. It wasn't, "I'm sorry, I'll find another solution," or, "I'm sorry, there's one other option," or, "I'm sorry, there may be another way," or even, "There might be the smallest chance of you going back." It was just an apology.

She's not going back.

"However," Dumbledore said. Hermione's spirits lifted just a bit. "Even though you can never go back-"

Hermione's heart sunk once again.

"- You can go back for large amounts of time. The exact time is uncertain. The longest for nine months, the shortest for eleven minutes."

Hermione stared at her knees, afraid that if she said one word, she would break out in tears.

"You are dismissed," he said silently, understanding her silence. Hermione nodded as she pushed her chair back, biting her lip.

Right when she placed her had on the door handle, Professor Dumbledore said something.

"And one more thing," he said suddenly. Hermione turned her head.

"I forgot to tell you last time. If there is something that you want to change, or something you want to tell someone- Don't. It could change everything," he said. The glint in his blue eyes suggested that he knew exactly what was going to happen in a few short years.

Hermione nodded. She swallowed, and was able to manage a simple- "Thank you."

Hermione closed the door and checked her watch. They had taken ten minutes. It had taken ten minutes to completely tear apart her life.

She headed back to the common room. She didn't expect Lily to still be in the Great Hall, considering that classes start in seven minutes. She stepped in the Gryffindor common room, and looked around. She didn't see anyone. Hermione took a deep breath as she walked towards the couch.

Suddenly, there was a sharp blow to her left shoulder, making her fall to the side. Hermione barely caught a hold of a nearby armchair to prevent her from falling to the side.

"You are _so_ dead, Alden."

* * *

** This was just a filler chapter. Sorry for the little cliffie, it that is one. The next one will be loads more interesting, I promise. I won't be able to write for a few days- I'll be traveling to places with no Internet connection, and just traveling in general. Well, I can type, but I won't update my story, I'm sorry to say. I promise that the next chapter will not only be long, but also rather interesting. I have the plot in my head already, and there's some good stuff in there. But I can't say anything! **

**I promise that the next chapter will be better, **

**RavenclawValdez007**


	6. Destroyed

**Author's Note: DUN DUNN DUNNNNNNNNNNN! It's the chapter we have all been waiting for! Not really. Anyways- Bloody bitch, that's a lot of reviews. For me. I'm shocked. Well, here it is- The longer chapter with all of the shocking stuff. I'm sorry to say that it's not that much longer- I was going to write more, but I'm lazy that way. Besides, I don't have loads of time- I need to pack to go back to America! Back home! Weeee! I'll miss Taiwan, though.**

** Have you guys ever heard of A Very Potter Musical? It's fantastic! It's incredibly funny, and I've loved them for two years! Go check out Starkid!**

* * *

_Previous Chapter_

_Suddenly, there was a sharp blow to her left shoulder, making her fall to the side. Hermione barely caught a hold of a nearby armchair to prevent her from falling to the side._

_"You are so dead, Alden."_

* * *

Hermione knew that voice too well- She could almost hear Sirius' sneer.

She quickly stood and turned- Sure enough, Sirius had his wand out, pointed at her. He must have hexed her. He took a few steps closer, wand still outstretched.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he said angrily.

"What's wrong with _you_?" Hermione responded. "You threw me into a lake!"

"You crushed my nose!" Sirius shouted.

"Only after you threw me into a lake!"

"The opportunity was too good to miss!"

"What type of reasoning is that? Honestly, why do you hate me so much?"

"You- You're just- Ugly! And stupid!" Sirius sputtered.

"Then why did you ask me out?"

"It was a _joke,_" Sirius sneered. "Who would want to go out with _you_?"

"I've had boyfriends!"

"Oh, right. One is pretty impressive, but seeing as you used the plural- That's highly impossible."

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Because- Because fuck you, that's why," Sirius snapped. Hermione groaned.

"I have studying to do," she said tiredly.

"No, you don't," Sirius said harshly. He flicked his wand upwards, and a blow not unlike a slap struck Hermione across the face, this time knocking her to the floor. Her wand fell out of her pocket and scattered across the carpet, across the other side of the room. Hermione tried to scramble up again, but her feet were swept out from under. This time, she landed straight on her face. Sirius laughed out loud.

"Hurts, doesn't it, Alden?" he laughed. Hermione took the chance to sprint to the other side of the room and grab her wand. She ducked and slowly crept to the abstract portrait.

"Trying to run, Alden?" Sirius sneered, and Hermione fell backwards, hitting her head on the edge of a table. She nearly cursed out loud; a sharp pain shook her entire body.

This time, Hermione stood up at once and pointed her wand at Sirius. He took one glance at Hermione, and snorted.

"Oh, how intimidating," he said. Hermione slashed her wand once angrily in the air. Sirius managed to block it, but the force of the spell against his shield caused him to stumble back. She took advantage of the situation and ran to the portrait.

"Red vines!" she said in a shouted whisper. The painting popped open and the door slid to the side. Hermione slid the door shut, and heard the thud of the painting cover up the door. Hermione took a deep breath.

* * *

"And, therefore, the Goblin's Triumph of 1786 was one of the most effective wars in our magical history," Professor Binns droned on. Hermione was furiously taking notes, yet everyone else was goofing around, acting as like the N.E.W.T.S. weren't only some months away.

The door creaked open, and a small first year poked her head in. She had little pigtails that stuck out of her head.

"Professor Binns?" she squeaked. The ghost turned his head slowly.

"Yes?" he asked lazily.

"Professor Dumbledore wants a word with all of the teachers," she said.

"Now? What an inconvenient time," he muttered, but he floated out of the room none the less.

"Thank you, Miss SillyString." he said.

"Stirling... The name's Stirling..." she said, closing the door behind her. The class began to talk with excitement; there was only twenty-five minutes left in the period, which they'd probably be able to talk to with no teachers.

"You may want to watch your back, Alden," a voice that was strangely familiar said. Hermione turned her head- It was Lucius Malfoy. He had the same long, white-blonde hair, but only to his shoulders. The cold eyes were the same, though. He was looking at Hermione with something like pity.

"What, Malfoy?" she asked tiredly.

"Oh, you already know my name?" he asked pompously. He placed a hand over his heart as he said it. "I can believe it. I must be famous around here."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"What do you want from me?"

"Nothing, actually. Believe it or not, a Slytherin like me-" He did a hair flip " -is trying to help a Gryffindor like _you._" He ended the sentence with a sneer of disgust."Black's quite angry at you. Rumor has it that he's going to do everything to completely destroy your life."

Hermione snorted. "Please. Who's spreading the rumor?"

"Oh, no one, for now," he said, casting a look of boredom. Then, his eyes lit up maliciously as he glanced at Hermione. "I've only just invented it."

"Malfoy, I will hex you and your stupid hair," she muttered, flipping a page in her textbook. He was silent for a second, judging her.

"You've got spirit, Alden. If you ever want some excitement in your life, come and join the Drama Club. Talk to the head of the Drama Club- That would be yours truly," he said, speaking in a French accent whenever he said the words, "Drama Club". Hermione had to choke down a laugh. She was barely able to keep a straight face as she looked back at Malfoy.

"You're the head of the Drama Club?" Hermione asked, poker face faltering.

"Of course. Why is this such a surprise? Only the most fabulous of people can become heads."

This time, Hermione lost it at _fabulous._ She started to giggle uncontrollably. He passed the giggling as giggling of nervousness.

"Nervous around me? I don't blame you. Anyways, still. Watch your back, and when you're not, come check out the Drama Club," he said, almost sashaying away. Hermione started to laugh silently, not even noticing the person sliding into the seat next to her.

"What's so funny?" someone said so abruptly next to her that Hermione stopped laughing at once and hiccuped. What was clearly Remus chuckled.

"Oh, nothing," Hermione said, still smiling. "I had no idea that Malfoy was the head of the Drama Club."

Remus raised his eyebrows, but he still smiled. "Is it that surprising?"

"No, not at all. It just explains so much," she said.

"I heard about the lake incident. I'm really sorry," he said. Hermione could easily see that he meant it.

"I don't know what's getting into him. He never acts this way," he said, frowning in his direction. Sirius was currently snogging with a girl so furiously that all Hermione saw was blonde hair.

"You talk about him like he's your pet," Hermione said in an amused tone.

"He almost is," Remus said with a sigh. "I have to look out for him, like he's my... dog."

Hermione laughed in her head- He looked so uncomfortable saying it. He glanced down at what Hermione had just pulled out of her bag before Malfoy came over.

"You already finished your Charms essay?" he asked in amazement. "It was a foot and a half assignment."

"Well, I had to rewrite it, considering Potter burned every thing I had," she said through clenched teeth. Remus groaned and put his head in his hands.

"Well, I can't give them all the credit. Sirius was going on for a solid hour about his crooked nose, and James keeps picking at his bandages. Madam Pomfrey says that if he doesn't let the boils heal they'll look like ugly acne scars," Remus said with a smile. It was slightly crooked, but Hermione thought it was sort of cute.

"Oi! Moony! Ditch Herman and get over here!" James yelled from across the room.

"Herman?" Remus said, brow furrowed.

"Her name's a mouthful," James shrugged.

"It's okay, you can leave," Hermione said with a small smile. "I don't mind being alone. I actually like it."

"Well then," Remus said, placing a hand over his heart, as if he was offended.

"Oh, just go over there," Hermione laughed. He smiled at her one final time before heading over there.

.../oOo\...

"Okay, Moony. What is going on between you and Alden?" James said as soon as Remus sat. Sirius instantly stopped at the sound of Hermione's name.

"Sirius," Tammielyn complained. She was a Hufflepuff, with a huge chest and heels so high that Sirius was surprised that she didn't trip every time she tried to walk.

"Shh," he said, a bit annoyed. "Later."

She huffed as she went back to her seat, chin in the air. Sirius tried to casually listen into the conversation.

"Nothing," Remus said, frowning a bit. "We're just friends."

"Yeah, and I don't like Lily that much," James said sarcastically. "Mate, I've seen you staring at her like how Padfoot stares at defenseless blonde Hufflepuffs."

"There's nothing going on between us," Remus said, a bit forcefully.

"Whatever. Just don't ask her out, or anything like that. She's the enemy."

"Well, would Hermione be the enemy if Sirius didn't hate her? Would you hate her if he didn't?"

"There you go again, calling her Hermione."

"She calls me Remus!"

"Exactly!"

"So what, I can't talk to her anymore?"

"Well- Not really!"

"Why not?"

"Just- Because. Just because, okay?"

"Yeah, Moony!" Sirius pitched in. "She's off-limits."

Remus looked at him weirdly. "Would you two stop being so dramatic?"

"No!" James and Sirius said at the same time.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Besides," Sirius said, leaning back in his chair. "I have the ultimate plan to get back at her. She won't want you after this, anyways."

"What?" Peter said, popping out from Sirius. He jumped slightly; he hadn't realized that Peter was behind him.

"Jesus, Peter," Sirius said. "But whatever. You should help us, we need as much participation as possible."

"Not another prank," Remus groaned.

"Not a prank," Sirius said, grinning evilly. "Do you guys know what Red Vines are?"

.../oOo\...

"So. How was your morning?" Lily asked as Hermione sat down at lunch.

"It was alright," she said lightly. "Black and Potter pretty much left me alone, for the most part."

"That's good. There's a Hogsmeade trip this Saturday. I assume that you have no plans?"

"Well, I thought that we were going together."

"You're right. We are. Just making sure that you haven't been asked out or anything."

"Oh, I-" Hermione was about to say that she actually was, but she stopped herself. She didn't want to say anything.

"Nothing," she said.

"No, it's not nothing," Lily said, a tone of worry in her voice. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Hermione repeated. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she muttered.

Later, Hermione finished up her lunch and headed back to the Gryffindor common room. She had dropped off her bag in her dorm before heading off to lunch, and she wanted one of her books. Hermione made sure that nobody was in the common room before quietly whispering her password. The door slid to the side, and Hermione screeched.

Her room was unrecognizable. Everything was ruined- The curtains were slashed to little lines, her bed sheets ripped and stained with a mysterious brown liquid that looked like it was still wet. The carpet was cut with something like a knife, showing the concrete floor underneath. The lamp was broken, and the glass was shattered across the ground. The armchair had been slashed open and ripped of its stuffing, springs showing. Her dresser was one of the worst- They had carved words into it. On the underwear drawer, with all of the lacy lingerie, the word read, _SLUT._ On the top of the dresser, there was a poorly carved message.

_FUCKING BITCH,_ it read. The neat wallpaper on the wall was torn, and the light bulbs on the ceiling had holes in them, and were flickering. Hermione walked slowly to the bathroom, heart thudding against her chest. The bathroom door had spray paint all over it; not displaying any message, but just messily sprayed. She twisted the door nob, expecting the worst. The bathroom wasn't as bad as the bedroom- Or, until she saw the sinks and mirrors.

Her makeup was all over the place. Her blush was powdered all over the counter, and her eye shadow was used to smudge the walls. The eye liner and lip stick was completely used up by writing on the mirrors. There was something written in thin, spiky handwriting using eye liner on the mirror-

_You're so fucking ugly that you have to use this much make-up? Wow, you're so fucking stupid and fake! CUNT _

Another message in lipstick- _Go kill yourself, you bitch!_

_You are useless_

_WHORE_

_You can go use your million dildos to go FUCK YOURSELF_

There was a lot more profanity on the mirrors, but it hurt Hermione's head to look at it. Hermione was strong- She survived a war, and she helped to defeat it. She was able to stand up to people who looked down at her. But she had just got out of one war, and now she was in another. She just completely broke down. Tears started to run down her face, ruining her make-up.

After a few minutes of just kneeling there, feeling sorry for herself, she began to think. Would she tell anyone? Lily, maybe. Teachers? No, she can't let Black know that he had won. Hermione slowly stood up, still shaking with silent tears. She stormed over to the shower and whipped a wash rag off of the bars, one of the only things they didn't touch. She was about to clear the messages on the mirror, but she re-read the one that rang a small bell in her head.

_You're so fucking ugly that you have to use this much make-up? Wow, you're so fucking stupid and fake! CUNT _

Hermione looked at the rag, then back at herself in her distorted image in the mirror. She ran the rag under some water and began to wash the make-up off. She gathered the half-empty bottles up and threw it away into the trash can. Make-up wasn't her, anyways. She kept all of the lip gloss and some lip-sticks that they didn't really use, because it didn't quite count as make-up. It didn't affect her image too much. She also kept one black eye-liner and mascara, just because she was fond of it. She promised herself that she would only use it if there was a party, or something. She dumped the ten items or so into a drawer. Hermione pulled out her wand and began to clean up, wiping her tears away.

_You are useless._ Hermione cleared the words away with her wand, but they rang in her head over and over again.

She wasn't useless. She helped in the war. She was strong when others were not. The day Hermione Granger became useless was when George would stop pranking Ron by putting spiders in his brief case.

Hermione moved onto the bedroom, bathroom completely clean.

"Oh, I should..." Hermione muttered to herself, walking over to the door. There, she reset the password to Granger, her real last name. Sirius must have heard her say the password earlier on this morning. She looked down at her watch- Classes were about to start. She decided to clean up later. She picked up her bag and headed out the door.

On the way to Charms, she ran into Lily. Lily barely glanced at her, looked away, and then looked back, doing a double take.

"Hermione?" Lily exclaimed. She smiled.

"Yeah. What?"

"You- You look different."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No! No- You look great!"

"Thanks- Wait- I do?"

"I thought you didn't use make-up."

"I'm not wearing it right now. Do I really look that different."

Lily shook her head. "Do _not_ wear make-up. Ever. Again."

She said it with a bit of force, so Hermione wasn't sure whether to smile or not.

"Gotta run. See ya," Lily said, smiling at her. Hermione returned it, spirits now lifted.

"Crazy..." she heard Lily mutter.

Hermione could feel some eyes on her as she headed to the back of the classroom. She was sure that two people, and maybe three were waiting for her to explode. James was already there at their desk, staring Hermione down. She didn't make eye-contact with him as she sat down, pulling her books out.

"What are you doing?" James said harshly.

"Getting my books out," Hermione said as normally as possible. He was silent.

"It's Tuesday."

"I am very well aware of that."

"Don't give me that smart-ass tone!"

"Why not? You're not a teacher."

"Well, I'm Head Boy! I could dock points!"

"It's your house too."

"Well-" James stopped to think about it. "Fine," he snapped. "She wrote it on the board- It's now Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays where we have practical lessons."

Hermione glanced up. James wasn't lying- it was written neatly in cursive.

"Dumb bitch," he muttered as Hermione calmly put away her books. She knew that Sirius was staring at her.

"So you're just not going to say anything?" James suddenly burst. Hermione was silent as she took her wand out.

"I have nothing to talk about," Hermione said coolly. James glared at her.

"Okay, class. Today, as you may have seen, is another practical lesson," Professor Claire said. She looked at Hermione with a twinkle in her eyes. "I know how some of you... Enjoy them."

Hermione smiled slightly as she glanced down at her wand, which was placed horizontally on her desk.

"But, it would be unfair to some people if they had the same partner all the time, so I've decided to put you with different people," she said. People snickered at James' expression at this statement. He was downright offended.

"Everyone to the left of the table, would you please move down one? The people in the back can come to the front," she said. There was a small scraping of chairs on the ground as half the class moved. Hermione instantly groaned slightly as she saw who was her partner.

"Miss me?" Chase said, smiling at her. Hermione smirked a bit as she picked up her wand.

"Everyone up," she said. They all stood up at once. Hermione slashed her wand through the air once- The charm broke through his feeble shield and sent him to the ground, flat on his back. It happened so suddenly that many people didn't notice for a few moments. Soon, wands were flying due to the fact that nobody was paying attention to their own duels. At first, they saw Chase on the floor. Then, they glanced at Hermione. Just like Lily, they all did a double take.

"Well," Professor Claire said, walking towards Hermione, "I don't think I've ever had a student to get another student to the ground so quickly, especially someone like Mr. Madison here."

Hermione smiled.

"I think you're the best I've ever had."

_Brightest witch of the age,_ Hermione thought. "Thank you."

"Please," a voice said loudly. Heads turned to look at Sirius.

"She's never beaten me," he said, taking his wand out. "As far as I'm concerned, I hold the record."

"Black, please-" Professor Claire said.

"No, it's fine. Come at me," she said, taking a few steps forward. People gasped, including Professor Claire. Sirius smirked.

"You'll regret this, Alden," he said, pulling out his own.

"The only thing I regret is looking at such a arrogant snob like you," she growled. Sirius narrowed his eyes, and flicked his wand once. Hermione blocked it at once, and quickly whipped her wand in a half-circular motion. Sirius blocked it, and his shield was pretty good.

"That's the best you've got?" he said snidely. The class was watching them intently, wondering what was to happen next. Hermione tried to find Remus in the crowd, but she couldn't see him. She realized that tomorrow was full moon- Of course. She pushed those thoughts away and put all of her concentration in this duel.

Hermione didn't answer- Well, at least not verbally. She replied to his comment with a charm that was rather uncommon- It would reflect whatever charm the other person shot at her, but only for one charm. Sirius tried to hex her with a slipping charm, but the purple spell re-directed at once and hit Sirius square in the face. His feet were swept out from under him as he too fell flat on his back. Hermione gave her wand a final flick, making Sirius jump on the ground- She had just kicked him in the ribs. She quickly walked forward and pointed her wand at his face.

"Drop your wand," she demanded, for it was still clutched in his fist. Sirius made a face of disgust.

"Drop. Your. Wand," she said through clenched teeth. Sirius gave her one look of absolute loathing before dropping his wand, it landing on the ground with a little tinkle.

"Hands above your head," she snarled.

"Hell no!"

"HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD NOW!" she screeched, thrusting her wand an inch from his nose.

"Hermione-" Professor Claire started to say.

"This is not just about a duel, Professor. This is for throwing me into a _lake._ This is about torturing me for no reason. Hands above your head, Black," she said in a deadly tone. Slowly, very slowly, Sirius raised his arms, turning a deep shade of red. Hermione puffed out a breath of air as she stood up straight. The class was dead silent.

"Beat your record," Hermione said breathlessly. "You can get up now. You look really stupid lying on the ground like that."

That's when the class finally reacted- It was a mix of yelling, laughter, and gasping. The mixed sound must have been across Hogwarts. Sirius got up, still a bit red. That blonde that he was all over before rushed over to him, but he pushed her away, glowering at Hermione. About ten girls, all from different houses came over to congratulate her, and one was even a Slytherin.

"You look different."

"Are you wearing make-up?"

"What type of make-up do you use?"

"It looks really good."

"I'm- I'm not using any," Hermione stuttered, not used to all of the attention at all. She sort of liked it- But only because they liked her because of her brains.

"Really?"

"You're lying!"

"Well, I guess I don't see any."

"You look better than before."

"Er- Thanks," Hermione said.

"Back to your seats, everyone," Professor Claire said. The girls all said good-bye, and Hermione was surprised that they were all very nice, even the Slytherin.

James absolutely refused to look at her, which was completely fine with her. For the remainder of the class, they took notes on the second chapter, everyone turning their heads once in a while to look at Hermione.

* * *

The final bell rang throughout the whole school. Hermione always thought that the last bell was the loudest. She quickly placed her DADA book in her bag and got out of there. She didn't feel like talking to Lana or Hui, two friends that she had made. They were funny and kind, but Hermione needed to clean up her dorm. She walked in, and it still looked like a dumpster. She placed her bag on the desk, but Hermione assumed it was too heavy, because the desk collapsed to the fact that the drawers were ripped out and dumped of it contents and sprawled across the ground. The legs of the desk were also almost completely cut by something that looked like a sharp knife. She sighed as she pulled out her wand, and she got to work.

She was able to fix the carpet, her curtains, the bed, and the dresser- She was still working on the armchair and the desk. The bathroom door was also cleaned. She was flipping through a book on fixing house-hold items from the library, but she couldn't find anything on drawers and how to re-attach them.

Suddenly, there was a knock at her door. Hermione furrowed her brow in confusion. She hadn't told anyone, and Sirius and James wouldn't be so polite about it. She opened her portrait in curiosity.

"Hello?" she said, only sliding it open a bit open.

"It's me," a tired voice said. At once, Hermione slid the door open and smiled.

"Hey, Remus," she said. He had his hands in his pockets. "I missed you in class today."

"I'm just feeling a bit under the weather, that's all," he said. It was true- His eyes looked a bit more sunken than usual, and more crazed, too.

"How'd you know that I was here?"

"Padfoot has a big mouth. I'm sorry- I mean, Sirius."

Hermione realized that she wasn't supposed to know their nicknames.

"Well... I suppose you heard about his little act, too?"

Remus raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Nothing," she said quickly.

"I did hear about the duel today though. I'm really sorry I missed that. Great job, though."

"Thanks."

"You look different."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No- No. I like it."

"Thanks," Hermione repeated.

A bit of awkward silence followed as they both looked away to the side at the same time, Hermione leaning on the door frame.

"Well, that's not really... Why I'm here," Remus said, scratching the back of his head. "I. Er. Wanted to ask you something."

Hermione looked up at Remus, heart racing a bit. He seemed a bit flustered.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Er," he said. Hermione giggled a bit.

"That's a confusing question."

"No- Wait," he said, turning a bit pink. "I- wanted... to..."

He looked up at Hermione, who was staring at him intently. She nodded, indicating for him to go on.

"What's our Charms homework?" he blurted out. Hermione blinked in surprise, spirits falling a bit.

"It's... uh... To read chapter three and write a paragraph summary," she said silently.

"Thanks," Remus muttered, staring at the ground.

"See you tomorrow," Hermione mumbled, sliding the door shut, thoroughly disappointed.

He didn't say anything as the portrait swung shut inches away from his face. Hermione stood there for a moment, thinking. She slowly walked back to the desk, bringing her wand out again.

_Boys are so clueless,_ she thought to herself.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait!**


	7. Hogsmeade

**Dear beloved Followers- Yes, I have noticed my mistake. You can't say something silently. Fucking sue me. Ravenclaws don't like being corrected, okay? I could correct everyone's grammar in the review, but I don't do that because I know what they fucking meant. Lay off me. Sheesh.**

**Sorry. I was just on a flight for fourteen hours, and then another for two hours on a different plane. I'm extremely cranky right now, but I'm still writing you bitches a chapter because I love you guys. I also curse a lot when I'm cranky, did I mention that?**

**Anyways, I'm back in America now. Just thought you ought to know.**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAY! Early birthday shout-out. **

**Sorry for any typos, I'm extremely tired,**

**-RavenclawValdez007**

* * *

_Previous Chapter_

_"What's our Charms homework?" he blurted out. Hermione blinked in surprise, spirits falling a bit._

_"It's... uh... To read chapter three and write a paragraph summary," she said silently. **(Sue me.)**_

_"Thanks," Remus muttered, staring at the ground._

_"See you tomorrow," Hermione mumbled, sliding the door shut, thoroughly disappointed._

_He didn't say anything as the portrait swung shut inches away from his face. Hermione stood there for a moment, thinking. She slowly walked back to the desk, bringing her wand out again._

_Boys are so clueless, she thought to herself._

* * *

The days passed rather quickly; it surprised Hermione. Sirius usually stayed away from her, not even glancing at her in classes. James was actually becoming rather pleasant to her; perhaps because he had figured out that she and Lily were practically tied at the hip. It may have also been because he had gotten bored with Hermione, just like any other bully. Peter was not to talk to her by their orders, as well as Remus. She could tell that he wanted to talk to her, but he seemed a bit timid, especially after that one night.

Finally, the week was over and the school was buzzing about the upcoming Hogsmeade trip. Hermione was happy to finally be able to get away from Sirius for a few hours.

"Oh, you just wait," Lily gushed as soon as Hermione sat down at breakfast on Saturday. "There's this amazing store that sells all sorts of candy! It's called-"

"Honeydukes?" Hermione said automatically. Her heart skipped a beat. "I mean- I know. I heard some fourth years talking about it."

"Oh, okay. Anyways, it's amazing! Then, there's a costume store called _Beastly,_ which we could do future Halloween costume shopping for!"

"Costumes?" Hermione asked, spreading jam over her toast. "Why do we need costumes?"

"Well, the Head Boy or Girl usually throws parties at the Head's dorms, and that's just what Potter's doing. Any sixth to seventh year can get in, but no one else."

Hermione wondered why on earth she they didn't have these parties in the future. She also wondered why the future Hogwarts got rid of Sundae Sunday- She had only just heard about it. On Sunday, everyone gets a Sundae at dinner.

"Oh," Hermione said. "Alright, then. I guess."

"And then we also have a Christmas Ball every year-"

"What? Why didn't we have this?"

"Because your school in France wasn't Hogwarts?" Lily said in a questionable tone.

"Oh. Right," Hermione said.

"- So we have to visit _Ramona Crow's,_ a brilliant dress shop. The Ball's only for seventh years. When are we leaving, again?"

"Ten thirty," Hermione said. "I forgot my watch."

"Well, considering that it's almost deserted, we should get going."

* * *

"This is Beastly?" Hermione asked, walking into the costume shop. The name was misleading. The walls were a sparkly, shining neon-blue that hurt Hermione's eyes. There was some pop music playing that sounded like something one of the popular Hufflepuffs listened to. The floors were silver and waxed so well she could see her reflection. There were pink racks filled with costumes, and each section of the giant shop had floating words labeling each section.

"Well, let's head over to the teens section," Lily said, not answering her question. "I know, very... girly. But it's good. Promise."

"Okay," Hermione muttered as she followed Lily.

"Each section has sub-sections," Lily began to explain. "Everything from girly pop-star to emo goth, Beastly's prices are rather high. Hope you brought your money bag, Hermione."

"Yeah, the Ministry and bank provides muggleborns with a lot more money than bef- At my old school," Hermione recovered, hoping Lily didn't catch it. She didn't.

"Yep. I got loads of cash on me," Lily said.

"Great. We'll only need one costume, though."

"And shoes, accessories, and some costumes sort of require make-up."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "Make-up?"

"If you want to be a zombie, you'll need make-up."

"Oh. That kind. Why are we buying our costumes now, anyways?"

"One- They have some costumes that are super awesome and could pass for cocktail and formal dresses. Two, they're cheaper now. And we'll get the best selection. This place is packed in October."

"Really? It's deserted."

"Now it is."

They browsed through the millions of costumes.

"Witch?" Lily asked. They decided to do Lily's first.

"You already are one."

"No- Like a muggle one."

"Still no."

"Angel?"

"No."

"Devil?"

"Getting closer."

"Shut up," Lily muttered, flipping through a rack of costumes.

"Bumblebee?"

"No."

"Teacher?"

"No."

"Sexy teacher?"

"No," they said at the same time.

"What's that?" Hermione said, pointing at a rack behind Lily. The sheets covering the costumes looked a bit dusty, like nobody has shuffled through them in a while.

"I dunno. I totally looked over that."

Hermione walked over and picked a random one off the shelf.

"Wow," they both said at the same time again.

It was amazing. The cloth was either silver, gold, bronze, or glistening white. Hermione couldn't tell; it was many different colors at once. There was a gold band at the waist, and it looked like it fell a few inches above the knees. It had one thick strap, with on of those gold rings on the strap. Well, not on- The ring looked like it held the cloth together. Inside the plastic sheets, Hermione could see a bag of golden accessories. A head band that actually looked like it went across the forehead, thin golden bracelets and earrings.

There were also little sleeves, or pieces across sewed into the back of the dress and to the back of her calves, probably. You could probably pick them up or attach them to the wrists, or something. They had no shoes, but the sheet had a little sign saying to go to the cashier for them.

"Wow," Hermione breathed.

"I'm looking at this," Lily muttered. It was a dark blue hue, and it looked knee length. It had long, loose sleeves, but it was tightened at the wrists. It had a v-neck lined with silver lace, as well as the bottom of the dress. The silver high-heels were included, as well as the necklace and earrings. The earrings were silver and simple- Just little glassy orbs. The necklace had a beautiful owl charm with gleaming eyes.

"What is this?" Lily breathed. Hermione looked at the top of the rack, but it had no label.

"Well," Hermione said, flipping the costume over. "My sheet just has a small little label- I can't read it."

Hermione leaned in and squinted.

Aphro. That's what she saw. Aphro. The rest was faded out.

"Let me see yours," Hermione said.

"It's mine," Lily said in almost a forceful tone.

"Just let me see," Hermione pleaded. Lily handed it to her slowly, eyes narrowed and looking suspicious. Hermione read the little label.

"At... Ath... Athe... Athen... Athena!" Hermione exclaimed. "Athena, the goddess of wisdom!"

"What now?"

"These are goddesses costumes! Mine is- Aphro. Aphrodite!" Hermione said, picking hers up.

"Oh, these are perfect," Hermione said.

"I know," Lily gushed. "Let's get them!"

They rushed to the cashier, who looked glad to finally have customers. She scanned the dresses and put them into separate clear zipper-up bags- Like the ones that they used to hold suits or fancy dresses. She gave them both seperate bags for the shoes and accessories.

She and Lily nearly had a heart attack at the price, but they paid for them. They looked worth it. They walked out of the shop, money bags a bit lighter.

"Ugh," Lily said, tugging at her simple leather money bag. "We need purses."

"No we don't."

"Yes we do, admit it. We have a lot of crap to carry, and we just need something with handles to hold it."

"Fine. One purse."

"Excellent. Let's head over to that Coach store, there should be good stuff there..."

Thirty minutes later, she and Lily walked out with both a purse and matching wallets. Hermione got a big, silver bag that could probably hold some good books. Lily got a black shiny one that was a bit skinnier, but was a shoulder bag.

"This isn't like me," Hermione muttered.

"It's not me, either. We've shut up our inner girl for so long that it's finally gotten out, and it's controlling us."

"Controlling you, you mean. I got mine under control. Where next?" Hermione asked, dumping her crap from her leather bag into her new shiny purse.

"_Ramona Crow's,_" Lily said. "Right there."

All Hermione saw was white. The walls were white, the floors were white, and the racks were white. Every single piece of furniture was either white and silver or white and another shade of white.

"It hurts my eyes," Hermione said, shielding her face from the bright lights.

"Just look at the dresses. We'll need a lot."

"I won't," Hermione suddenly remembered. "Madam Rosmerta did my shopping and got me about twenty dresses."

When Hermione was fixing her dresser up, she pressed one of the handles, and another door on the side swung open, revealing loads of different style and color dresses. They too had their own matching shoes. Hermione was wondering if Madam Rosmerta was updating her dresser weekly, because she was pretty sure that she didn't have fish net stockings a few days ago. She just shut the stockings away in the back of the top drawer.

"Well, I can't shop alone! Besides, you might find one you really like. Let's go!"

"I never knew you were the one to shop for dresses," Hermione muttered.

"I'm not. I know my priorities, though."

"Did you finish your homework?"

"That's besides the point," Lily said. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I think black suits me. Or green. Maybe white?" Lily asked. "Help me, I'm terrible at matching things."

"You're asking the wrong person. But yeah, I like the green one."

"It's too short."

"Try it on."

Lily took three dresses into the dressing room. They were all short party dresses, except for the black one. There was a blue-green belted bubble dress and a white cocktail mini dress with no straps. The black formal dress was the one she hoped to buy for the ball- It was a ruffle dress, ruffles starting from right below the bust.

After about an hour of, _Oh, that looks good_ or _Yeah, buy that one,_ Lily finally decided on the black dress and two completely different party dresses. It was the same style dresses, but just instead of blue-green and white, it was light green and gold.

"Where next?" Hermione asked.

"Now, we have fun," Lily said, smiling. "Book store."

They arrived at a small bookstore, an old rickety shop that smelled of mead. Hermione could see why she didn't see this bookstore in the future.

"It looks small, but it has the most amazing books," Lily said. She went to the back of the shop.

"They don't have titles," Hermione noted.

"That's what makes it a mystery," Lily responded.

They both picked three books that all looked the exact same with faded grey covers, but all had different authors at the bottom of the cover page.

"That was great," Hermione said breathlessly. She was finally enjoying herself. She loved the shopping with Lily, but the bookstore felt familiar; like her.

"Not for long," Lily muttered, glancing over to the side. Hermione looked there, and she saw why. Only a few shops away from the book store was Zonko's, and Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter all walked out with large bags of Zonko's products. James nudged Sirius, who was checking out a girl in the coffee shop, and nodded in Hermione's direction. Sirius sneered his signature sneer.

"Not her, you idiot, I meant Lily," James muttered. Sirius ignored him and took a few steps forward.

"Doing your whore shopping, then?" Sirius sneered.

"Excuse me?" Lily and Hermione said at the exact same time. James looked baffled.

"Mate, stop. Evans-" he mumbled, staring at the ground.

"Yes, but Alden's here," he smirked. Remus and Peter awkwardly stood there, Remus' eyes wide and looking at the situation. Peter looked confused as to what was going on.

"What's that?" Sirius said, eyeing Hermione's bags she was carrying. "_Ramona Crow's? _That store's for hot girls, what the hell were you doing there?"

"You know what, Black? I wanted to tell Potter that I'll finally go out with him, but you're being so rude that I've changed my mind," Lily snapped. James' mouth popped open as the other three gaped at her.

"If you two don't get along with my best friend, then Potter can kiss me goodbye," Lily said harshly. "Let's go, Hermione..."

Lily turned on her heel, and Hermione followed suit.

"Wow, Lily," Hermione said, laughing a bit. "You finally considered going out with him?"

"Not a chance. I just thought it would be funny if Potter got extremely mad with Black."

"You are SO evil!"

Sure enough, Hermione could hear yelling as she walked off.

"YOU FUCKING MORON!"

"How was I supposed to know?"

"I DON'T KNOW, YOU STILL DON'T SAY THAT SORT OF STUFF TO HER!"

"What about Alden?"

"JUST FUCKING STOP, ALL OF IT! I DON'T CARE, NOW SHE'S NOT GOING OUT WITH ME!"

"She wouldn't have gone out with you anyways!"

"THAT'S WHAT SHE JUST SAID!"

"The next few weeks will be hilarious," Hermione muttered. Lily laughed.

"Are you kidding? I'm expecting flames and a few explosions."

Hermione snickered as they turned a corner, James' profanity fading out.

* * *

**This may have been a boring chapter for some people. One, some people don't like shopping, and two, I'm terrible at describing anything to do with fashion. I had to look up different dresses because I'm that hopeless. Sorry the chapter's a bit short, as I said, I am terribly tired. **

**Toodles. Sorry for any typos.**


	8. And The War Goes On

_Previous Chapter_

_"YOU FUCKING MORON!"_

_"How was I supposed to know?"_

_"I DON'T KNOW, YOU STILL DON'T SAY THAT SORT OF STUFF TO HER!"_

_"What about Alden?"_

_"JUST FUCKING STOP, ALL OF IT! I DON'T CARE, NOW SHE'S NOT GOING OUT WITH ME!"_

_"She wouldn't have gone out with you anyways!"_

_"THAT'S WHAT SHE JUST SAID!"_

_"The next few weeks will be hilarious," Hermione muttered. Lily laughed._

_"Are you kidding? I'm expecting flames and a few explosions."_

_Hermione snickered as they turned a corner, James' profanity fading out._

* * *

"God dammit!" James barked as he came down to the common room. It was morning, and Lily and Hermione were already down with breakfast. It was Sundae Sunday, of course. Hermione couldn't wait until dinner.

"Sirius glued my pillow to my face!" he said, totally unaware of Lily and Hermione sitting on the couch talking. His eyes finally caught hold of Lily, and he blushed a bit. There was indeed a pillow stuck to the side of his face.

"Hello there, Evans," he said in a deep tone.

"You look like ridiculous," was all Lily had to say. "And I'm still not talking to you."

"Come on, Sirius wasn't serious when he said that?"

"Which, "Serious"?" Hermione asked out of curiosity.

"There's only one Sirius in this whole school!"

"No, as in, Sirius wasn't himself, or Sirius was joking when he said that?"

"The latter!"

"Oh, okay. But that's bull," Lily said.

"Come on! You said you would go out with me! Finally! Please!"

"If Black keeps on saying nasty things, then I'm not going out with you."

"UGH! I am going to KILL him!" James yelled in frustration. He stomped out of the common room.

"The pillow's still on your head, moron!" Lily called after him. She rolled her eyes. "He's the reason I don't always use the Head's dorm. But then of course, he follows me where ever I go."

Hermione snorted. "On another subject, I suppose this means that Sirius and James are in some sort of war?"

"Yeah. Every year, they have this Pranking War on the rest of Hogwarts, but this year it seems to be on each other."

"Are they actually mad at each other?"

"Potter is. I think Black is just doing it for the pranks."

"Oh. I was just wondering, I suppose..."

They then talked about their favorite books. They were on a heated discussion about The Lord of the Rings when they heard yelling and running coming from outside the common room.

"GET BACK HERE, PRONGS!"

"Come and get me!" he laughed, bursting into the common room. He raced past the two girls, around the couch and to one end of the table. He panted for breath as Sirius soon followed suit, trying to chase him around the table.

"What on earth is going on here?" Lily exclaimed.

"He made a frog appear into my mouth as I was snogging Rebecca Jones! You _know_ she's the hottest Ravenclaw girl!"

"Exactly!" James laughed. Sirius lunged over the table and tackled James to the ground.

"This is ridiculous!" Hermione exclaimed, standing up. "Let's go to the library, Lily..."

"Wait! Evans!" James cried after them. She rolled her eyes.

"They are so stupid," Lily muttered.

"Say," Hermione said as she shut the portrait shut. "I was thinking about Charms class, and I remembered Black saying he held the record for duels. Does that include you?"

"You love to rub it in, don't you?"

"No! Just curious."

Lily huffed. "If you must know, he demanded to duel every single person in the class last year. And yes, he did beat me, including everyone else in the class."

"Even Remus?"

"Yes. It was a close call, though."

"Potter?"

"Yep."

"Wow. Did he try to duel the teacher?"

"He did, actually. She reminded him that she accidentally sent her Mother-In-Law to the hospital for four weeks, and he backed down."

Hermione snorted.

She and Lily quietly looked for books. They planned to meet in the back of the library tucked behind bookshelves and walls so that nobody would find them, and they could talk relatively loudly.

"Find anything?" Hermione asked as Lily entered the little section about five minutes after her.

"Not really, but I did find-"

What Lily found, Hermione would never know, for there was suddenly a gigantic explosion. They knocked the book shelves over and landed not an inch away from Hermione. She shrieked.

"What on-" Hermione yelled, standing up. Her questions were answered as she saw the many people running out of the library, screaming and holding their hands over their mouths. Many other book shelves were also topped over.

"Where on earth is Madam Pince?" Lily exclaimed. Hermione ran over to the desk, a spell zipping over her head.

"It says she's sick!" Hermione called. Suddenly, a retched smell came to Hermione's nose, one that she knew too well.

"Dung bombs!" Hermione called, pinching her nose. The entire place was getting fogged up by the dung-bombs. Hermione's eyes were starting to water.

"Let's get out of here!" Hermione exclaimed, accidentally taking a deep breath. She gagged and started to cough.

"What?" Lily yelled, and Hermione could hear her coughing as well.

"STUPEFY!" Hermione heard Sirius yell, the spell zooming past her face.

"BLOCKED IT, BITCH!"

"Lily, where are you?" Hermione called. The fog from the dung-bombs made it impossible to see.

"LILY'S HERE? SORRY, EVANS! WHERE IS SHE?"

"Right behind you," Hermione heard Lily snarl, and the sound of something collapsing on the the ground.

"That'll teach you..." she muttered. "Hermione! I'm at the door! Follow my voice!"

"Sure thing!"

"Shut up, Alden! I can't hear James!"

"I knocked him out, idiot!" Lily called. Hermione took a few steps forward towards Lily's yelling.

"LILY, WHERE ARE YOU?" Hermione yelled. Someone screeched right next to her, causing Hermione to scream a bit in surprise.

"Right here, you imbecile!" Lily said. "Let's go!"

They pushed through the doors with their shoulders, coughing as they got out. Just as the door closed, they heard the sprinklers going off.

"I think I've gone blind," Hermione croaked, rubbing her eyes and then blinking rapidly.

"I think I'm going to hurl," Lily said, putting a hand over her mouth.

"Girls! Girls! What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall came around the corner, eyes wide. "I heard screaming!"

"Black and Potter!" Lily said shortly, as if that explained everything. Professor McGonagall wrinkled her nose as she took out her wand.

"Knowing them, I'll have to use a bubble charm," she muttered, placing the bubble-head charm over her head. Professor McGonagall opened the doors and walked right into the green smoke, disappearing.

Hermione's mouth was wide open. She had seen Fred and George put a swamp in a hall way. She had seen Fred and George make the toilets in the girl's lavatory regurgitate whatever was put in it. But this- This was a scene from a horror movie.

Lily looked relatively calm. She saw Hermione's shocked expression and shrugged.

"I've seen worse," she said. "Let's head down to the Head's dorms, I don't think anyone would be there..."

Hermione nodded, shutting her mouth a bit stupidly.

"Where exactly are the Head's dorms, anyways?" Hermione asked.

"Seventh floor, down a secret corridor," Lily replied.

"Secret corridor?" Hermione asked. She had never seen one on the seventh floor before. Not on the map, anyways.

"Yeah. Right about... Here," Lily said, pushing a brick on the wall. The wall disappeared and was replaced with a large set of double doors.

"Nice," Hermione commented. Lily fumbled in her brand new purse for her key.

"Sorry, this might take a moment... This thing is like a freaking black hole..." Lily muttered.

"Told you it wasn't worth it," Hermione said.

"Shut up, I found it." Lily took a small, golden key out.

"So there's not just a password?"

"Nope. Someone could hear, and they'd totally wreck the dorm."

"You can say that again," Hermione mumbled. She took one look at the Head's dorm, and she nearly fainted. This was the dorm that _she_ was supposed to have in her _actual_seventh year. Hermione reminded herself that this was her actual seventh year, because she's not going back.

It didn't look like a part of the castle at all. The ceiling was sky high, the walls marble, as well as the floor. There were two red-carpet staircases at each side, both leading to different double doors. It was huge- It looked like the ball room from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Above their heads about fifty feet up was a giant chandelier.

"And you prefer to stay in the Gryffindor dorms?" Hermione breathed. Lily laughed.

"Come on, my dorm's on the right."

On the walls next to the staircases were bookshelves leading right up the doors. Hermione stopped twice to look at the books.

"We were just in a library, come on!" Lily said, putting her hands on her hips.

"A library that was destroyed. But fine, coming," Hermione said, placing the book back.

Lily took out another key to unlock her dorm room.

"Wow, you even have a key to your dorm?"

"The day you showed up, I stayed here. So did Potter. I woke up, and he was in my bed."

Hermione snorted, but she caught hold of her serious expression and stopped laughing.

"Really?"

"Really. To make it worse, he only sleeps in his boxers."

Hermione put her hand over her mouth, trying not to imagine that. "Okay, that's enough."

"Believe me, you have no idea what it's like to roll over in the middle of the night and-"

"Okay, okay!"

"Anyways, as soon as I saw him there, I hexed him about a thousand times and went straight back to the Gryffindor common room."

"That's... perverted."

"Tell me about it. And I knew he was obsessed with me, and that's just a bit insane."

"Just unlock the door already," Hermione said. Lily nodded and pushed the door open.

"Are you kidding me?" Hermione exclaimed. The entire room wasn't even a room. It was a pool, and a large platform in the center for the bed, dresser, armchair, and desk. There was a bridge going from where they were standing to the platform, and another bridge going from the platform to a door on the edge of the room, probably a bathroom.

"It's different every year," Lily noted. "Last year I heard it was a giant closet filled with clothes and shoes. The room fits the room that the owner would want as their dream room."

"A pool room? Amazing," Hermione breathed.

"The right half is hot water, the other half is slightly warm water," Lily said. "I tried it as soon as I saw it. Don't trip on the bridge."

"And Potter didn't go for a swim when he came in here?"

"I don't know, I wasn't awake!"

"Whatever- You said that the Halloween party's going to be here?"

"Yes."

"You should open your room!"

"Wh- What? No way!"

"Just vanish the furniture, and put something else there, like a snack table or something!"

"I do not want drunk people throwing up in my pool."

"Just consider it!"

"Okay, for you," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"Aw. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Now sit down, I want to complain about people."

Hermione laughed. "Is that all we talk about?"

"Pretty much."

They talked for ages and ages. It seemed to fly by, especially because they sat on Lily's bed, which was super comfy.

"Come on, let's head down to lunch," Hermione said, looking down at her watch. Lily nodded and followed her out of the dorm.

After lunch, they decided to head down to the school yard. As soon as they sat down under Hermione's favorite tree, Lily looked behind her and squealed.

"It's so cute!" she exclaimed, standing up. Hermione looked over her shoulder and gasped.

It was Sirius- In dog formation. Except, he looked different- The dog was younger, like he still had some growing to do. Sirius was smaller, and as Lily said, cuter. Sirius wagged his tail as he walked towards Lily.

"Aw!" she said, giving him a hug. Hermione bit her lip and turned her head the other way- Sure enough, James and Remus were looking at the show, both mouths open.

"Hermione, come say hi!" Lily exclaimed. Sirius looked at Hermione and growled.

"No thanks," she breathed.

"Come on! You didn't mean that, did you," Lily said soothingly, patting his head. Sirius closed his eyes and buried his head in her breasts.

Hermione understood- Sirius was trying to make James mad. He was succeeding- James was trying to run over there, but Remus was holding him back.

"Lily, I'm not sure if that's a dog," Hermione said faintly. Sirius poked his head up.

"Of course it is! It's so cute, how can it not be a dog?" Lily said in that same tone, nuzzling his snout. Sirius began to lick her face, and Lily giggled.

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" Hermione heard James yell. Lily paid no attention to him. Sirius rolled over, indicating that he wanted a tummy rub. Hermione rolled her eyes; a dog was going to be a dog.

"Aw, you wanna tummy rub?" Lily coaxed, pronouncing "rub" like "wub". Lily used both hands to rub Sirius stomach, and he closed his eyes, clearly enjoying it.

"Come on, Hermione? Are you afraid of dogs?" Lily said. "He's so cute! I didn't know that you could bring dogs to Hogwarts? Who do you belong to?"

Hermione looked around; nobody else was in the yard besides some Hufflepuff first years, who didn't dare approach the seventh years. Hermione cautiously took a few steps forward.

"Alright," Hermione muttered, patting his head. At first, Sirius seemed to be enjoying it, but then he opened one eye and saw who was patting his head. He quickly got to his paws and bit Hermione on the hand. Hermione shrieked.

"OW! SIRIUS!" Hermione exclaimed. Sirius blinked and backed away, obviously shocked. Hermione slapped her hand over her mouth, and Lily laughed.

"Everything has to be Black's fault, huh?" she laughed. "Even if a dog bites you?"

"Yeah... I have to go," Hermione said, turning and speed-walking towards the doors.

_What was I thinking?_ Hermione said in her head angrily.


	9. Hermione's Green Revenge

_Previous Chapter_

_Hermione looked around; nobody else was in the yard besides some Hufflepuff first years, who didn't dare approach the seventh years. Hermione cautiously took a few steps forward._

_"Alright," Hermione muttered, patting his head. At first, Sirius seemed to be enjoying it, but then he opened one eye and saw who was patting his head. He quickly got to his paws and bit Hermione on the hand. Hermione shrieked._

_"OW! SIRIUS!" Hermione exclaimed. Sirius blinked and backed away, obviously shocked. Hermione slapped her hand over her mouth, and Lily laughed._

_"Everything has to be Black's fault, huh?" she laughed. "Even if a dog bites you?"_

_"Yeah... I have to go," Hermione said, turning and speed-walking towards the doors._

_What was I thinking? Hermione said in her head angrily._

* * *

Hermione rushed to the Gryffindor common room, heart racing. She just gave herself away, right after Dumbledore told her not to. She shut the portrait and ran her hands through her hair.

"Oh, what have I done...?" Hermione muttered. She sat down on the couch, head spinning. Hermione heard the portrait creak open, and the slam shut. Hermione gulped.

"Out with it, Alden!" Sirius yelled, walking towards the couch and glaring at her. Following him was James, Remus, and Peter. James looking baffled, as well as Remus. Peter, as usual, looked a bit confused.

"How the fuck did you know?" he growled in her ear. Hermione flinched.

"Er..."

"HOW'D YOU KNOW?"

"Calm down, Padfoot!" Remus exclaimed, putting a hand on his shoulder. Sirius shoved him off, gritting his teeth.

"I'm not going to calm down, Moony! She could rat us out and sell us to the Ministry! We'll get arrested because of this bitch!"

Hermione shut her eyes and put her face in her hands.

"She's obviously upset!"

"Shut up, we all know you like her!"

"I - That's besides the point!" Remus exclaimed. Hermione didn't even lift her head up at this; she was having a migraine, and Sirius was not helping.

"Do you know about the rest of us?" Sirius demanded. Hermione remained still, face still in hands.

"DO YOU?" he barked in her ear. Hermione jumped.

"Yes, yes, I do!" she wailed.

"Even Moony?" Hermione paused for half a second. She sat up to look Remus in the eyes, who was breathing heavily and a bit pink.

"What's wrong with Remus?" Hermione acted. They all seemed to breath out with relief.

"But still! How'd you know?"

Hermione shook her head.

"You still haven't given me an answer, Alden!"

James nudged Sirius in the ribs, who turned his head angrily. James nodded at Remus, and Peter finally seemed to understand what they were about to do.

"Oh, you guys are gonna do Good Cop and Bad Cop!" Peter said out loud. Sirius and James cursed at the same time.

"Dammit, Peter! You don't say it out loud!" James exclaimed, face-palming.

"Oh," he muttered, looking down at the ground.

"And I wouldn't tell Remus, either," Hermione said.

"Why not?" Sirius said harshly. Remus looked a bit surprised, and even a bit hurt.

"Only because I know that he would tell you guys," Hermione said quickly, looking at Remus. His eyebrows raised a bit, but otherwise, there was nothing.

"That's the fucking point!" Sirius yelled. "Did you overhear us? Did you eavesdrop? Tell me!"

"I didn't hear you guys talking about it," Hermione said firmly.

"Then how- do- you- KNOW?" Sirius yelled in frustration.

"I am NOT going to tell you if you keep on yelling at me!" Hermione said, turning back around, crossing her arms and staring into the fire.

"Fine, bitch," Sirius hissed.

"Sirius!" Remus yelled. Hermione could tell that he was getting more and more impatient.

"How do you know?" Sirius said in a controlled voice.

"I can't tell you," Hermione said.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? I'M BEING QUIET, AND I'M TRYING TO CORPORATE, YOU FUCKING CUNT!" Sirius yelled. Hermione flinched and bowed her head down, tears brimming her eyes.

"Padfoot, shut the hell up!" Remus said. Hermione turned her head to look at him. It was weird seeing him curse. Sirius looked at him, shocked.

"Who's side are you on?"

"I don't know! I'm tired of you treating Hermione like trash!" Remus said angrily. His face was growing red, and the other four people in the room were staring at him.

"She deserves it, that little-"

"Sirius. Shut up! She's never done anything to you!"

"She's been acting like a complete shifty little bitch!" Sirius took a few steps closer to Remus, glowering at him. They were inches away.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down..." James said, holding out his hands and stepping in between them.

"Get out of the way, Prongs!"

Hermione took the chance to quietly and slowly get up from the couch and try to go up the girl's dorms. She didn't sleep there, but it was a place where they couldn't go up. She tip-toed over the the stairs.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Sirius snapped. Hermione made a break for it, but Sirius was far too quick. He took two steps forward and grabbed Hermione by her wrist. She shrieked, struggling to get away.

"Let go of me!" Hermione shrilled, trying to pull her wrist out of his grasp. He squeezed her wrist so hard that Hermione gasped.

"Let go of her, Sirius!" Remus said, walking forward and trying to pull him back.

"Get the fuck away! She has some explaining to do," Sirius growled, letting go of her wrist and shoving her onto the couch.

Hermione left her wand in the dorm, so that wasn't an option. Instead, she stood up and slapped Sirius straight across the face. She slapped him so hard that he fell onto James, who barely caught him. In the chaos, Hermione ran to her portrait, and as quietly as possible, whispered her password. She slid the door shut just as she saw Remus, who was staring at her intently.

* * *

Hermione slid her door open to the common room slowly. She scanned the room, and it was empty. She sighed a breath of relief as she stepped out of her dorm and shut the abstract painting behind her.

"What are you doing?" came a voice from behind her. She jumped and quickly turned around.

It was only Remus. He looked like he had only just gotten down there, and his hair was still terribly messy. He had bags under his eyes as usual, but they were more prominent. Hermione giggled, and he turned slightly pink.

"I could ask you the same. What do you think you're doing, going down to breakfast with pajamas on?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, I'm not heading down yet, I thought I heard Padfoot come down here, and he wasn't in his bed," Remus mumbled groggily. He rubbed his eyes. He only had on pajama pants and one of the guy tank-tops, which fitted him pretty well.

"At least I had the decency to put on a shirt, thank god..." he mumbled, still a bit pink. Hermione snorted.

"Well, I'm heading down," Hermione said. "Brush your hair, would you?"

"I'll have to take a shower, first. I accidentally used James' comb, which Sirius put glue in. It's actually still in my hair-" Remus reached to the back of his head and pulled a piece of hair into view, which looked intensely tangled with what appeared to be a red comb. Remus let it fall back. Hermione let out a laugh.

"See you in class," Hermione said. Remus nodded. She turned to walk away, but she walked into something. But there was nothing there.

"What the-?" Hermione yelped.

"Shut up," a voice growled. Hermione soon realized what the situation was- Sirius, under the cloak. Hermione also remembered that she was supposed to not know it was a cloak.

Sirius pulled the cloak off him, smirking. Remus rubbed his eyes.

"Mate, I thought Prongs hid that," Remus asked.

"He did. I found it. Lousy hiding spot, under his pillow. But that's besides the point."

"You- what- _cloak_?" Hermione sputtered, acting. Sirius sneered, pleased to know something she didn't.

"It's an invisibility cloak, nimrod," Sirius snapped. "You still didn't answer my question. How do you know?"

"Give it a rest, would you? It's six twenty in the morning," Remus groaned.

"I'll give it a rest when Alden answers my question," Sirius spat. He took out his wand and put a shield charm around Hermione. She gasped and tried to take a step back, but she couldn't. She had no idea that this was a charm, or even existed. She couldn't move.

"Seeing as you can't escape," Sirius said smartly, walking around her. "I suggest that you answer our question. Then, I might let you go."

"Padfoot!" Remus exclaimed, but still tired. He didn't exactly look like the one to help Hermione break out. She could fell her heart thump against her chest.

"Answer my question, Alden," Sirius demanded. Hermione tried to shake her head, but she couldn't.

"Dumbledore said I couldn't tell anyone," Hermione said suddenly. Sirius was silent as Remus poked his head up.

"Dumbledore knows?" Sirius asked in half amazement, half fear.

"Of course he does, you moron," Remus and Hermione answered at the same time. They both chuckled in unison, and they stopped at the same time at Sirius' expression.

"If he won't tell anyone, what makes you think that I will? Now let me go."

"No. I don't care if you tell or not, I just want to know how."

"I really can't tell you," Hermione said pleadingly.

"I really can't tell you," Sirius said in a mocking voice. "I'm not letting you go. Also, I know when you're lying, too. I put that hex on as well."

Hermione cursed inside of her head.

"Padfoot, just let her go," Remus grumbled. "If she can't tell us, then she can't tell us."

"Shut up, Moony."

"You told me yourself, in my third year," Hermione blurted out. She was telling the truth, and Sirius wouldn't be able to make anything of it. Sirius laughed, but it soon died down when the shield disappeared.

"What? No I didn't!" Sirius yelled.

Hermione turned around and sprinted out of there, taking a final glance at Remus before she left. His expression was something of curiosity, befuddlement, and interest.

* * *

The month passed by relatively quickly. Sirius left her alone after that, mostly, except the usual snide comments and insults in class. Hermione was used to that, and usually kept her head down and tried to ignore the laughing. He seemed even more cruel after she owned him in Charms, but at least he wasn't throwing her in any lakes.

The Prank war ended abruptly between James and Sirius, mainly because they forgot how fun it was to prank other people when they saw Remus' hair. It was now the four of them (More like the three of them, Remus didn't want any part of it) against Hogwarts. Half of the Hufflepuffs were sent to the hospital wing on account of snake venom being in the pumpkin juice. The Slytherin Quidditch team's brooms were hexed to make the players on them spin around in the air and ram into walls. All of the books in the History section of the library were made to hit the person who opened it in the head repeatedly, so the majority of the Ravenclaws had bruises on their heads. Every single Gryffindor woke up to their sinks blasting water in their face, and Hermione's seemed to be the worst- She got scalding, hot water in her face one morning. She was able to heal herself, and payed no attention to Sirius' snickering in Transfiguration.

The teachers didn't get pranked, which Hermione thought was strange. Then again, who would want to prank McGonagall or Dumbledore?

"Finally! Halloween's on Monday!" Lily exclaimed on a breezy Saturday morning. "But we're having the part tonight, because it's on a Monday, and who wants a party on Monday? I've decided to open my room, and I told everyone to bring their swim suits."

"Great! Oh," Hermione said suddenly, remembering the types of swim suits Madam Rosmerta bought her. Skimpy bikinis. She shuddered at the thought.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Madam Rosmerta got me bikinis," Hermione mumbled. Lily laughed.

"I'd offer you my one piece, but there's no way I'm wearing a bikini."

Hermione groaned. She slid over to the next seat to her right which was empty.

"I'm not talking to you," Hermione said in a pompous voice, barely able to keep a straight face.

"That's not the way to be!" Lily exclaimed, same tone of voice. She slid over into Hermione's seat.

Suddenly, when Hermione had her chin up, she heard a large plop and a scream where Lily should have been. Hermione turned around, and what looked like three gallons of thick, green slime covered Lily. She had her eyes squeezed shut, but her mouth was open. She spit the green gunk out of her mouth, and Hermione placed a mouth over hers. She quickly reached for her wand and took it out.

"Vanish it!" Lily exclaimed. The entire hall was looking at them, barely covering snickers.

"I'm trying, it won't go away!" Hermione said. She looked over her head, and Sirius and Peter were snickering furiously. Remus had face-palmed himself, and James looked shocked.

"I should have known," Hermione growled. Lily used both hands to wipe away the green slime from her eyes. The teachers weren't even here. Of course.

"POTTER, BLACK! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Lily screamed. Everyone shut up at once- They have never seen Lily freak out like this. Lily stood up, wand in hand, pointed out at Potter. She speed walked towards him.

"I've had it! I've had it!" she screeched, wand an inch away from Potter, slime dripping onto the ground.

"That- That was meant for Alden!" he said, burning red, eyes wide.

"I don't care who it was for! I am tired of you and Black treating people this way!"

"Lily, please-"

"I WILL NOT LISTEN TO YOU!" Lily screeched. "You mess up one more thing, and the party is OFF!"

There was a mass of complaining from the seventh years and angry shouting. James' face was so red that it was hard to see his face at all.

"Lily, please!" James exclaimed.

"Don't Lily Please me! I will throw you out these windows, Potter. You stop pranking people, if you want his party!"

"We can't do that!" Sirius piped in.

Hermione was enjoying Lily finally yelling at James and Sirius. It was amusing.

"Then no party," Lily said simply. The seventh years shouted at the two of them.

"Fine, fine!" Sirius yelled. "No more pranking."

They all sighed in relief.

"Just one more," Sirius said with an evil grin, and flicked his wand once in the air. Suddenly, giant buckets appeared above their heads. They all tipped over with the same green ooze. Everyone screamed. In desperation, Hermione pointed her wand at the giant mass of ooze and shouted the first spell that came to mind.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Hermione shouted. She expected the slime to break through the charm and land on everyone one, but after ten seconds of silence, Hermione opened her eyes and looked up. Indeed, her charm was so strong that it kept the green ooze hovering above their heads, just by ten inches. Hermione glanced at Sirius, who was astounded.

Hermione gave her wand a wave, vanishing most of it. There was still a decent amount left, enough to fill the Prefect's bathroom tub. Sirius gave a harsh laugh.

"You can't even vanish it all, you stupid... you..." Sirius stopped as he saw the look in Hermione's eyes. She pointed her wand at him, smirking.

"Remus, get out out of the way!" Hermione exclaimed right before banishing the gunk in Sirius' direction. Remus dove out of the way just as Sirius and James held up their hands in defense.

The entire hall burst out in laughter as the two of them slid to the ground. Sirius tried to get up, but he slipped in the slime and fell on his face again. James was looking for his glasses. The entire hall was laughing so hard that it must have echoed around Hogwarts.

"Hermione! That was brilliant!" Lily exclaimed, rushing over to her. "But I'm still covered in slime."

"That's fine. Just take a shower," Hermione said as calmly as possible, standing up. "Let's go. You can take one in my dorm."

* * *

**Thanks everyone! Halloween is coming up, at least in this story! It'll be super fun! There's going to be Spin The Bottle! But I can't give too much away!**


	10. Halloween

**Yo! So, this is the Halloween chapter! If you want to remember what the dresses looked like, check out Chapter 7. You know, Hogsmeade. The chapter that had quite a few mistakes because I was tired as bloody hell when I wrote it. That one. **

**So. Yeah. Enjoy. I just realized that I forgot to give credit to J. K. Rowling, so I shall do that now. Every character besides my own (Hui, Lana, Chase, etc.) belong to her, only the story line is mine. Actually, I got the back in time idea from other people. So the plot is mine. What's the diff?**

* * *

_Previous Chapter_

_"Remus, get out out of the way!" Hermione exclaimed right before banishing the gunk in Sirius' direction. Remus dove out of the way just as Sirius and James held up their hands in defense._

_The entire hall burst out in laughter as the two of them slid to the ground. Sirius tried to get up, but he slipped in the slime and fell on his face again. James was looking for his glasses. The entire hall was laughing so hard that it must have echoed around Hogwarts._

_"Hermione! That was brilliant!" Lily exclaimed, rushing over to her. "But I'm still covered in slime."_

_"That's fine. Just take a shower," Hermione said as calmly as possible, standing up. "Let's go. You can take one in my dorm."_

* * *

Hermione and Lily spent an hour getting ready, which Hermione thought was a bit ridiculous.

"I mean, this isn't anything important, really," Hermione reasoned, clipping her earrings onto her ears.

"Just shut up and put on your dress," Lily said. Hermione put on the dress. She still couldn't decide what color it was- Silver, gold, bronze, or a shiny white. It fit tight over her body.

The two of them were getting ready in Lily's bathroom, which was pretty much like Hermione's, except there was a bigger bathtub.

"These heels are weird," Lily muttered.

"What, you've never worn heels before?"

"I have, it's just that these are really tall."

"That doesn't make them weird."

"It does for me, okay?"

Lily was freaking out. She was paranoid that something bad was going to happen. Later that night, Hermione would realize that Lily was a little more than right, but that was later.

"I'm staying in my room most of the time. The pool is pretty deep, so I need to make sure no one drowns."

"Life guard?"

"Yes, actually. I had to make muggle money somehow, and I got lessons on how to be one."

"I can take over for a few moments."

"Don't. I already have Hui on the case, and she's had training too."

"Well," Hermione said in a hurt tone, placing a hand over her heart. "I'm sorry that I'm not professionally trained."

Lily gave her a small smile, but her eyes still looked a bit worried.

They did full turns in the mirror, Hermione's dress reflecting Lily's dark blue hue.

"You look amazing," they said at the same time. They laughed and smiled at each other.

"Let's get out there," Lily said. "I think Potter's letting people in, now."

Sure enough, when they got out into the main entrance hall, it was filled with people dancing to the music under the light of the disco ball. Rainbow lights floated among the walls, and it was a bit hard to see.

"Better get to my room, I already see people in bathing suits," Lily muttered. "You go check out the place, and tell me how it is."

"Sure thing."

They left each other, and as soon as they did, Lana found her. Her blonde friend with the large grey eyes was dressed up as an angel, with the short dress and high heels. She looked pretty.

"Hey, 'Mione!" she said, walking towards her. "Your costume is totes cute."

"Thanks, I think," Hermione said, not used to the way that Lana talked. "I love you costume, too."

"Where the hell did ya get this? What color is it? Holy shit, it's beautiful."

"Thanks- I got it at Beastly's. A bit hard to catch, it was sort of hard to notice."

"Damn! It's really cool, I wish I had seen it!"

Before waiting for Hermione to say something, she went ahead and started to talk again.

"Hey, look! Spin the Bottle! We are totes playing," she said, giggling. "It's in Potter's room. I heard some hotties are gonna be playing."

"I'm not playing spin the bottle," Hermione said under her breath.

"Come on!" Lana said, pulling her. "Just because Lily isn't here doesn't mean that you have to be a loner. Meet some new people, and all that jazz."

"It's a revolting game! I'm not playing."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Pleeeeeeeeeaaaassseeee?"

"NO!"

"Fine, fine. Just go have some punch, then. I'm telling you, Black's not even playing this round. He's probably getting it on in a closet. You definitely won't have to make out with him."

"I'm not playing that game, Lana," Hermione said with a sigh. "None of the Marauders are playing," Hermione noted.

"Well, James loves Lily, Remus is mature, and Peter knows that he shouldn't play at all. Sirius usually always plays, unless-"

"Yes, unless he's, ah, 'getting it on'. I heard."

"I'll be in the circle," she said, whipping out of sight into the crowd. Hermione sighed and made her way to the punch table. There were two bowls, one with more liquid than the other. She took to one with less, because that must have meant it was the good one. She took a sip of it. A sharp, unfamiliar taste filled her head.

"That's some strong punch," Hermione said, but she loved it. She finished the whole cup and got another- And that's when the world started to spin.

.../oOo\...

Sirius got out of the broom closet, motorcycle helmet rolling out, panting slightly.

"Wow, Sirius!" Lyn breathed, fixing her microphone. She was this muggle pop star with way to much make-up. As usual. "That... was amazing."

"I know. Catch you later," he said, scooping his helmet up and ducking out of there. He didn't even hear her complain.

"I just got with the hot brunette," Sirius announced as soon as he found James, Remus, and Peter. James was a boxer, shirt off. Remus persuaded James to keep away from the oil, but Sirius thought it would have been a nice touch. Peter was a muggle magician, with the hat and black and white stick. Remus was dressed as a muggle baseball player. Sirius himself was a biker, leather jacket and jeans. He personally thought that his costume was the best.

"Nice," James said, taking a sip of the punch. "Sheesh, Padfoot. You seriously put loads of alcohol in that punch."

"A whole bottle and a half of firewhiskey. More whiskey than punch."

"You put the lables down, though, right?" Remus said.

"Yes, Moony," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Not really. But any moron would be able to tell the difference."

Suddenly, someone crashed into Sirius, knocking him into Peter.

"Hey!" he snapped. "Watch it!"

"Sorry!" a girl's voice came, and laughter followed it.

"No, it's totally fine. What's your name?" he said in a deeper tone, offering her a hand.

"I... don't know!" she squealed, standing up. Her curls swept away from her, revealing her face. Sirius sneered, disappointed.

"What are you doing here, Alden?" he said, backing away in disgust.

"I don't know!" she laughed. There was something off about her. She wasn't... right.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Remus asked, brow furrowed.

"Who's Hermione?" she slurred. Remus cursed out loud, which was very unlike him.

"Moony!" James said, pretending to be offended, placing a hand over his heart.

"She's drunk!" he exclaimed. "Sirius, I told you to put labels beside the bowls!"

"It's not my fault she's an idiot!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Are... Are you Sirius?" Hermione said, nearly tripping over her own costume. She looked like some goddess, or something. Her dress made Sirius' head spin; he couldn't decide what color it was. She looked... Terrible, Sirius thought in his head. And nothing but that.

"Yeah," he sneered.

"You're not Sirius!" she yelled for no reason. "Sirius is... what's a Sirius again?"

"You are so dumb," Sirius muttered.

"She's drunk!" Remus exclaimed.

"Chill down. So is half of the party."

"Oh! I remember! Sirius is really mean, but he's really good looking!"

Sirius snorted. "That, coming from you, is-"

"But," Hermione interrupted, holding up a finer, "He's really mean. So that means that, that, his looks dropped by, like, seventy percent."

"Hey! Shut up!" Sirius exclaimed as James laughed. Hermione looked Sirius straight in the eye and made a face of disgust.

"Oh, god. At least he's better looking than you," she sneered. Sirius glared at her as James, Remus, and Peter burst into laughter.

"La, la, la, la, la, llama," Hermione sang, spinning in circles. "Spinning is fun."

Sirius almost snorted, but then he remembered that he wasn't supposed to.

"How'd you get this drunk?" Remus asked.

"I'm drunk?" Hermione asked. "Are you sure?"

"Quite sure," James said, laughing. Over the past couple of weeks, James had stopped bullying Hermione so much, just as they usually did with the usual nerd. They would get bored and find a new one. He was actually rather pleasant to Hermione, especially after finding out that she and Lily were best friends. Not Sirius, though.

"No, I'm not," Hermione pouted, putting her hands on her hips.

"Hermione, how old are you?" asked Remus.

"Eight. Teen," Hermione added.

"So she's of age," Remus said, but he didn't seem any less worried.

"She's eighteen?" Peter asked.

"That's what she just said."

"Isn't that... Like, old?"

"Seventh years are seventeen to eighteen."

"Oh."

"Wait- I think I'm nineteen," Hermione slurred.

"No, you're not," Remus said. "That's impossible, unless you're a year behind."

"She probably is, dumb bitch."

Remus smacked Sirius' arm. "Hermione, when were you born?"

"September."

"No, what year?"

"19."

"19 what?"

"19."

"'Mione, you're going to have to give me more information than that."

"What do you expect? She's drunk," James said.

"1980!" Hermione exclaimed. "I was born in, on, in, 1980."

"No you weren't," Remus said tiredly. "It's not even 1980 _now._"

"You're... you're right," she said, eyes wide and darting from place to place. The way her dress reflected the lights made her face glow.

"I was born in 1979. Silly me."

"This is..." Remus groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"She can handle herself," James reasoned.

"Exactly. Go away, Alden."

"My name isn't Alden."

"Not your first name."

"My last name isn't Alden!" Hermione yelled in his ear. Sirius winced and pushed her away.

"Shut up," Sirius groaned. "Your voice is so annoying."

"My name isn't Alden!" Hermione repeated.

"Okay, Hermione. Your name is not Alden," Remus said calmly. "Just relax."

"How can I relax? There's a war going on!"

"What the hell is she talking about?"

"Gee, I don't know. She can't possibly be drunk," Remus said sarcastically.

"The war! With Volde-"

Remus put a hand over her mouth, looking around frantically.

"Sheesh, Hermione! You just can't shout his name!"

"Fear of the name only increases fear for the thing itself," Hermione said smartly, placing her hands on her hips.

"That's pretty wise, considering she's drunk," James noted. Hermione shrieked in delight and started to jump up and down, clapping her hands.

"I love this song!" Hermione squealed. All four of them paused to listen to the song that was playing.

"It _is_ pretty good," Remus said.

"Who picked The Beatles?" James asked. Sirius raised a hand in pride.

"Nice," James said, extending his fist for a fist bump.

"I think the White Album's up next," Sirius added.

"Even after twenty years they broke up, they're still really good," Hermione smiled. Remus, James, and Remus all looked at her in confusion. Peter being the only one who didn't know who The Beatles were, stood there awkwardly.

"It hasn't even been ten years, dumbass," Sirius said.

"They broke up in 1970," James said quickly before Remus could say anything.

"Oh," Hermione said, but she had this look of confusion on her face. "But right now it's, like, 1998. Or 1999. I dunno."

"It's 1977 now," James said.

"Didn't John Lennon die?"

"He's still alive!" Sirius exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "Right? Someone tell me I'm right."

"You're right," Remus said, patting Sirius on the shoulder. Remus then turned to Hermione.

"He's still alive."

"No! He died! On December... seventh, was it? 1980!"

"No he didn't," Remus said, but Sirius could see him losing patience.

"It's like she's living in the future," James grumbled.

"No!" Hermione insisted. "He's dead! I know he is! And you're supposed to be dead too! And you!" Hermione said, first poking James on the forehead, then Sirius.

"Now she's talking crazy talk," James muttered, but Sirius had this feeling in his gut that Hermione wasn't ranting.

"How did James die?" Sirius asked as politely as possible. The other three stared at him like he was insane.

"Voldemort!" Hermione said, rolling her eyes, like it was obvious. "Oh, and you're dead, too. And you," Hermione said, pointing at Remus and Peter. She gave the four boys a big smile before turning around, spinning in circles again.

"Voldemort, Voldemort, ooo Voldy Voldy Voldy Voldemort!" Hermione sang to the tune of that 'Lollipop' song.

"Hermione, be quiet! People can hear you!" Remus exclaimed. "She's acting like he's a joke!"

"Everything's a joke to a drunk person."

"Byeeeeeeeee," she trailed off, skipping away. "I have places to see and people to be... Or something like that."

They all stared at her in shock as she skipped away, Sirius being the first to speak.

Sirius smirked. "Dumb cunt."

Remus followed her, pushing through James and Sirius.

"Hey! Moony!" Sirius said.

"Just making sure she doesn't do anything stupid!" Remus shouted. Sirius rolled his eyes as he followed him.

"She's heading to Lily's room," Sirius noted.

"Good. Then, at least Lily will be able to keep an eye on- her," Remus said, stopping short and ending in a soft voice. How Hermione had stripped herself down to her bathing suit and jumped in the pool in the five seconds that they weren't there, Sirius had no idea. But there she was, in her black bikini, screaming at the top of her lungs. Everyone was looking at her like she was a crazy lunatic. Which she sort of was, Sirius reminded himself. He had to force himself not to look in certain places.

Remus scoped the room. "There," he said. Lily was indeed face-palming herself so hard it looked like she was going to break her nose.

"Remus!" Lily said, spotting him. She walked over them, hopping over someone who was unconscious on the bridge.

"What on earth is wrong with Hermione?" she asked, pointing to her. Sirius glanced over- she was currently laughing at something one of the Hufflepuff guys had said, and she was twirling her hair and cocking her head, looking at them the way that blondes looked at Sirius.

"Padfoot didn't put labels next to the punch bowls and she took the one with alcohol," Remus explained, twitching a bit at the sight of her flirting with the Hufflepuffs. Sirius thought that he didn't have a chance- both Hufflepuffs, one black haired and the other blonde, were rocking six packs.

Lily made a face of disgust at Sirius.

"Black, I am going to-"

She was interrupted by the sound of Hermione laughing hysterically, a laugh that certainly wasn't Hermione's. They looked over, and one of the Hufflepuffs had wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer towards him.

"Okay, that's enough," Remus said, totally red in the face. He took a step towards the two of them, but Sirius stopped him.

"Let go!" Remus said frantically.

"What are you going to do, just pull them apart?"

"Yeah, maybe!"

"You don't own her!" Sirius said a bit angrily.

"Neither do you! Do you think she'd really be doing this if she wasn't drunk?"

"Calm down, you two. Black, shut up."

"Hey! What about Moony?"

"He's not a complete moron!"

"Look what's he's doing!" Remus yelled. The Hufflepuff, who Sirius suddenly remembered as Justin, had his fingers enclosed on the strings of her top.

"Okay, okay, people! No nudity in the pool!" Lily called over. Hermione spun around at the sound of her voice.

"Lily!" Hermione laughed, breaking free of Justin. He yelled after her, and then glared at Lily before going to chase after some other drunk girl.

"Hi!" Hermione giggled, swimming towards them. "I like your bathing suit, Hui."

"Hui- Hui isn't here."

"Okay, Lana."

"Ugh," Lily said, closing her eyes. "Who's idea was it to put alcohol in the drinks?"

"Guilty," Sirius said. Lily smacked his arm.

"Does anyone have a sobering potion around?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I do. It's right next to the cactus I keep on me at all times. What do you think?" Sirius said sarcastically, shrugging off his leather jacket.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked, making a face as he took off his shirt.

"Why, is it illegal for me to swim?" Sirius said.

"In my pool, it might be."

"Moony, go get the other two," Sirius said. Remus looked a bit reluctant to leave Hermione.

"I got her!" Lily said, looking at his concerned expression. Sirius rolled his eyes as he backed up, Remus finally leaving.

"What- No. No, no, no, Black-"

Sirius ran forward, tucking in his knees. He didn't see or hear anything as he hit the water, but he was sure that it made a giant splash.

Sure enough, as he broke the surface, anyone within a ten feet radius was soaked. A girl was screaming how her hair was ruined.

"If you're in a pool, expect to get wet," Sirius said with a smirk to everyone who was complaining. He swam over to Lily and Hermione.

"What are you doing here?" Lily snapped, holding onto Hermione's wrist. She was struggling to get free.

"What's Alden so hyper about?" Sirius asked, ignoring her question.

"I don't know, but she just wants to- OW!" Lily cried, letting go of Hermione's wrist and grabbing her shin. Hermione was off, swimming towards the end of the pool. Sirius had no idea how she did it, but she could swim really fast.

"She kicked me!" Lily exclaimed, looking at Hermione, who was at the end of the pool, waving at her. Lily groaned, swimming after her. Lily couldn't swim as fast, as far as Sirius could tell. He knew that Lily would never catch her. Sure enough, as soon as Hermione saw Lily coming her way, she dove underwater and headed towards the hot tub part of the pool.

"Evans! Just get out of the pool and walk over to her!" Sirius called, but he didn't hear her. He just rolled his eyes and leaned against the pool wall. Sure enough, as soon as he did, a little group of Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw came to greet him. They were all blonde and giggly, except for the Ravenclaw. She had black hair and blue eyes.

"Heeeeeyyy, Sirius," one of them said, batting her eyes.

"Yo," a voice said from behind him, slipping into the pool next to him. It was James- the only thing he really had to do was take off his boxing gloves. His shorts doubled as swim trunks. Remus was next to him, looking for Hermione.

"Evans' chasing her around the pool," Sirius explained quickly, turning away from the girls.

"Lily's here? In a bathing suit? Be right back," James said, going off to look for her. Sirius laughed.

"What do we do?" Remus asked.

"We wait for the show."

"What show?"

Sirius didn't need to answer him. Out of nowhere, Hermione jumped into the pool, splashing both Sirius and Remus. When she broke the surface, she was laughing. Lily followed her, lowering herself into the pool.

"How much alcohol did you put in that punch?" Lily yelled at Sirius before heading towards Hermione, who was swimming in circles and laughing at the same time.

"Get away, Ginny!" Hermione laughed, backing away.

"I'm- Not- Ginny, whoever that is!"

Hermione just laughed as she paddled over to Remus, hiding behind him. He looked a bit stunned at the girl behind him, peeking out from behind his shoulder.

"Is she gone?" she said, looking suspiciously side to side. Hermione caught hold of Lily advancing on them, and she shrieked. She jumped on Remus' back and looped her arms around his neck.

"Piggy back ride! Go, piggy!" Hermione yelled. Remus, red in the face, wasn't sure what to do. Sirius had no choice but to laugh.

"Hi Evans!" James yelled, bursting out from the water right behind her, wearing ridiculous multi-colored goggles. Lily screeched and spun around.

"It's disappointing that you didn't wear a bikini," James said, taking his goggles off and flinging them to the side, "But I still like it."

"Get away, you creep!" Lily exclaimed. "I'm trying to get Hermione!"

Sirius directed his attention back to Hermione and Remus. Hermione was still on his back, laughing as Remus spun in circles, trying to get her off.

Hermione slid off his back, diving under water. Suddenly, Remus' feet were swept out from underneath him, and his head went underwater. Hermione burst up, and it was clear that she had tripped Remus by the mischievous look on her face. Remus broke the surface soon after her, brushing his hair out of his face.

Lily backed away from James and hurried towards Hermione. Hermione swam to the side and towards James. Lily groaned.

"Hermione, would you please get over here?" Lily yelled tiredly. Hermione must have lost her balance as she was swim-walking, and she elbowed James in the face quite hard. Sirius laughed. He laughed even harder when he saw James slip under the water, seeming to be unconscious. It took Sirius a few moments to realize that he _was_ unconscious.

"What's with Potter?" Lily asked, a concerned look on her face.

Sirius headed over to James, plunging under the water. Where James was, it was very deep- at least twelve feet.

"I can't swim that deep!" Sirius said, beginning to panic.

Lily didn't wait for anything else- She just rolled her eyes and dove underwater. Sirius could see a blurry form pick up another blurry form and drag him to the surface. Lily broke the surface, James' arm around her shoulder, his glasses somehow still on his face.

"Help me! He's too heavy!" Lily cried, head bobbing in and out of the water. Sirius swam over and helped Lily carry to the tiled ground, Remus being in control of Hermione. She was trying to escape again, but Remus kept a firm grip on her wrist.

They dragged him onto the ground, James knocked out cold. Lily shook James' shoulder.

"Potter. Are you there?" she said in a loud, clear voice. No answer.

"What, did you expect him to suddenly wake up?"

"It's apart of the sequence for CPR, moron," Lily snapped, looking uneasy. "I've never done it... on a... guy..."

Sirius almost laughed, but then decided not to, considering the situation.

"Mouth to mouth?" Sirius asked. Lily nodded stiffly. Lily leaned her head in towards James' mouth.

"He's not breathing," Lily muttered. She checked the pulse on his wrist to make sure, and she cursed.

"Not breathing," Lily repeated. She the her hand on his chest, and used the other to press down on her hand. She sat up, and got on her knees, straightening her arm out to press on his chest repeatedly. She looked very concentrated and stern, and Sirius thought it was best to just watch awkwardly. He vaguely wondered where Peter was.

She kept on pressing on his chest, maybe thirty times or so. She stopped, removed her hands and used to fingers to point his head up. Looking like she might just kill herself, she leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his, wet hair still plastered on her back. She took a deep breath and gave him one rescue breath, or whatever the hell it was called. Suddenly, James wrapped his arms around Lily, clearly enjoying the moment. Lily shrieked and backed away as Sirius and James laughed at the same time. James sat up, looking a bit fazed. Otherwise he seemed fine.

"You!" Lily hissed. "I thought you were unconscious, you foul little creep!"

"I was. When you were pressing my chest- Which, by the way, made the things up front jiggle-" Lily turned red and crossed her arms "- I woke up. I was about to stop you, but you didn't see me squinting. I saw you leaning in- How could I resist?"

Sirius held a fist up- fist bump for respect. James tapped it with his own fist.

"You son of a bitch!" Lily screeched, slapping him straight across the face. James fell back, clutching his face. Lily turned on her heel, still red as she slipped into the pool.

"Thanks, Remus," Hermione grumbled. He had missed the show, for Hermione was still trying desperately to get away. Lily grabbed her wrist, replacing Remus, but as soon as she did, Hermione slipped out of her grasp and was off again. Lily groaned. She turned towards James, still red.

"I _will_ kill you," Lily snarled before turning back around to chase Hermione.

"Guess that means we're through here," Sirius said, climbing out of the pool. He walked over to his jacket and pulled his wand out, drying himself. He slipped on his t shirt, leather jacket, and jeans and grabbed his helmet. When he turned around, James and Remus were already suited up. They exited Lily's room together, ignoring Hermione's screams.

"What happened to Wormtail?" Sirius asked out of curiosity.

"Eating about half of the school's supply of snacks," James responded, looking extremely proud.

"So. Where to?" Remus asked.

"Spin the Bottle," Sirius responded, heading towards James' room. Remus rolled his eyes as he followed him, James right behind him.

"I'm not playing," Remus said.

"I know. I heard that Maria Anderson is playing. Definite ten, I'd say. There she is!" Sirius exclaimed, the blonde-haired blue-eyes beauty had her hands on the bottle, eyeing everyone in the circle.

"Hold on, Padfoot," James said, grabbing his shoulder.

"What?" Sirius said, a bit annoyed. James glanced towards the corner- There, was Snape. He seemed to have lazily dressed up as a vampire, talking to Malfoy and some other Slytherins.

"Snivellus!" Sirius exclaimed. Few heads turned to look at Sirius; Snape just glared at him.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off in a cave, somewhere?"

Snape smirked, fake fangs hiding under his lips.

"I had the impression that every seventh year was allowed," he said snidely.

"Yes, but you don't qualify. Body of a child and just as stupid as one."

Snape looked like he was about to respond angrily until someone burst in, laughing.

"HERMIONE, GET OVER HERE!" Lily yelled. Sure enough, Hermione had pranced in, shrieking with laughter. The place quieted down at her entrance, everyone staring at her. Hermione had a pair of shoes in her hands. She ran to the other side of the room, pretty quickly for someone in heels.

"Hermione, give me back my shoes!" Lily screeched, bursting in after her. She saw that everyone was staring at the two of them, and Lily turned a slight shade of pink.

"If she's this drunk, shouldn't she be puking, not running?" Sirius muttered as everyone started to talk again.

"That's what I've been thinking. Are you sure you've only put fire whiskey in the punch?" Remus responded.

"I'm sure."

"She's acting quite strange, I was just thinking maybe- Oh, god," Remus muttered.

"What?" Sirius asked, but he didn't need an answer. Hermione had joined the Spin the Bottle group.

"My turn," a voice Sirius knew too well said, grabbing the bottle. Chase Madison, his arch enemy. He eyed Hermione while every chick was looking at him hopefully. He spun it once, very quickly. Hermione tried to follow it with her eyes, and she just ended up giggling.

"Well, go get her!" Sirius muttered. "If you like her so much."

"I- I don't like her!" Remus said, almost in a snap.

"Just keep telling yourself that," Sirius muttered.

"You have got to be kidding me," Remus groaned as the bottle came to a stop on Hermione. They all exploded, laughing and wolf-whistling.

Chase stood up and walked over to Hermione, extending a hand. She took it, still giggling. As soon as she stood up, Chase grabbed her by the waist and kissed her. Sirius almost puked- He could see the tongue. Hermione responded with so much enthusiasm and wrapped her arms around his neck. Remus started to shift uncomfortably as Hermione hopped up and wrapped her legs around his.

Sirius side-ways glanced at Remus and did a double take. He had never seen Remus so angry- He was literally shaking with anger. Luckily, he didn't have a bat with his baseball costume, otherwise Sirius was sure that Remus would have been over there beating him to death.

Sirius had this particular feeling in his stomach, seeing another guy snog Hermione and one of his best mates fall for her. He didn't know what the fuck it was, but he hated it. He just assumed that it was the deepest kind of hate that anyone could ever feel, and he just hit it. Or so he assumed.

Finally, Hermione got down from him, giggling and swaying on her spot. Chase had this smug expression on his face, and he looked directly at Sirius and smirked.

Sirius didn't know what made him do it, but he just went over there, fists clenched. He pulled back his fist and punched Chase as hard as he could in the jaw. Everyone screamed as he fell to the ground.

"Fuck!" Chase moaned, holding his jaw in his hand, using the other to get up. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Your fucking face, that's what's wrong," Sirius snarled, throwing another punch. Chase blocked it and got Sirius in the nose. He staggered back, but he shook it off.

"Hey! Stop!" Hermione exclaimed, pushing Chase.

"I know, baby, just-"

Sirius lost it at "baby". He let out all of his anger on this one punch- He was sure to draw blood, and maybe even break a few bones.

Sirius heard a scream. A feminine scream. He looked at Chase, who was standing- Standing? He looked at the mass that was on the ground.

Apparently, Hermione had pushed Chase out of the way and gotten in the way. He looked at her on the ground, not quite sure how to react. Everyone screeched and gasped. Hermione sat up, hand on her forehead. There was blood trickling down her head- a piece of green glass fell out of her head and with a tinkle onto the ground. Sure enough, the bottle was shattered on the ground. Hermione must have fallen on it, and there was a piece sticking out of her hair.

"Hurts," she whimpered, and then she fell over, passed out. Everyone was screaming at the blood, and the passed out chick on the ground. Sirius wasn't sure what to think or how to react- He just sort of stood there, not knowing what the fuck to do.

"Move!" Remus said from behind them, shoving both him and Chase. He knelt besides Hermione, eyes full of worry. He looked up at Sirius, anger flashing.

"Sirius, what the hell?!" he exclaimed.

"She was in the way!"

"She- Was- DRUNK!" he yelled. Everyone silenced down- Never had they ever seen Remus freak out like this. Remus was always calm and such- But he was just the opposite, now.

"AND IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU!" Remus added. He picked up Hermione bridal style, getting up from his knees.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, still not sure what to do.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Remus said through gritted teeth, pushing through the crowd. "I'm getting her to the hospital wing."

* * *

**Damn. That's all I have to say.**

**100 REVIEWS?! WTF!**

**I love you guys, really! I'm about five hundred words short of what I promised myself I'd write, but whatever. Sorry TheMysteriousSiriusHatta for promising 6,000. But I just couldn't wait to bring you guys this chapter!**

**I think I made some mistakes, but I'm too lazy and tired to check.**

**Hope you peeps enjoyed the chapter.**


	11. Switched Personalities

**Author's note: First of all, I'd like to thank all of you guys for your support. Actually, not everyone was exactly supportive, but just like Seth MacFarlane and Stephan Pastis, I shall embrace the haters.**

**Family Guy and Pearls Before Swine- Awesome.**

**I've made Sirius such a jerk that many people want him to get attacked by a werewolf, have Hermione throw him off a cliff, ect. You may be doubtful when I say that I think I've got something that'll make everything okay, but trust me. The niceness is going to start right about now.**

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_Previous Chapter_

_"Hurts," she whimpered, and then she fell over, passed out. Everyone was screaming at the blood, and the passed out chick on the ground. Sirius wasn't sure what to think or how to react- He just sort of stood there, not knowing what the fuck to do._

_"Move!" Remus said from behind them, shoving both him and Chase. He knelt besides Hermione, eyes full of worry. He looked up at Sirius, anger flashing._

_"Sirius, what the hell?!" he exclaimed._

_"She was in the way!"_

_"She- Was- DRUNK!" he yelled. Everyone silenced down- Never had they ever seen Remus freak out like this. Remus was always calm and such- But he was just the opposite, now._

_"AND IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU!" Remus added. He picked up Hermione bridal style, getting up from his knees._

_"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, still not sure what to do._

_"What do you think I'm doing?" Remus said through gritted teeth, pushing through the crowd. "I'm getting her to the hospital wing."_

* * *

Hermione's eyes fluttered open. Her head hurt, her stomach hurt, her everything hurt. She groaned as she placed a hand on her head- It was heavily bandaged. She was wearing one of those thin cotton hospital dresses. It wasn't very covering. It was dark, dimly lit by the torches on the wall. Whether it was morning or night, Hermione had no idea.

And she didn't remember a single thing.

"What- what happened?" Hermione muttered.

She was aware of being in a bed, a very comfy one. She took a look around- She was clearly in the hospital wing.

"Hey," a voice said way too close behind her. Hermione screeched, and then cursed herself for yelling that loud, seeing as it hurt her head. She turned around and saw the very last person she thought she would see sitting next to her in a chair. She quickly pulled the covers to her neck.

It was Sirius. For once, he didn't have a sneer on his face and he wasn't insulting her. He actually looked a bit nervous.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione sighed.

"Nothing," he said quickly.

"Watching me sleep?"

"No. Yes. Maybe," he snapped, leaning back in his chair. In a softer tone, he said, "Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Why? What happened last-" Hermione stopped herself. She remembered drinking a lot of that punch, but nothing much after that.

"Oh, no," she muttered. Sirius snorted.

"I didn't know you had a bikini."

"Shut up, Black," Hermione said, turning red. "Why isn't Lily here?"

"It's five in the morning."

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"Uh- Crap!" he said, looking at Madam Pomfrey's office. The lights had just turned on. Sirius turned into a dog, crawling under the bed.

Just as his tail whipped out of sight, Madam Pomfrey pushed the door open silently. She saw Hermione sitting up and bustled towards her.

"Oh, you're awake," Madam Pomfrey said. "I thought I heard voices... But no matter. Drink this," she said, forcing a goblet of murky, brown liquid at her.

"It'll help the headache," she explained. Hermione drank it in one gulp, trying to ignore the disgusting, thick mud-like drink seeping down her throat. It tasted of those vomit flavored jelly beans.

"Good girl," she said, taking the goblet from her. Sure enough, her head began to clear and Hermione could completely sit up without difficulty.

"Rough night you had," Madam Pomfrey said with a bit of a smile, pouring her a glass of water.

"What happened?"

"Well, you got terribly drunk-"

"But I don't drink alcohol," Hermione said at once, brow furrowed.

"That's what happened. You got shards of glass in your head by falling on a bottle."

Hermione groaned, leaning back on the pillows that Madam Pomfrey had just put up for her.

"Lupin tells me that Black had accidentally punched you, intending to get the young man behind you. Mind you, I don't think anyone should be getting in fights at all. That caused you to fall," she said, wrinkling her nose a bit. "I don't think Professor Dumbledore will be having these parties anymore."

_So that's why I didn't hear of those parties in my time,_ Hermione thought in her head.

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," she said stiffly.

"It was my pleasure," she said simply, going off to her office again. As soon as the door shut, Sirius was there besides her.

"Look, I'm sorry-"

"What?" Hermione said, shocked. She regained her posture and glared at him. "You're sorry? After all of your insults and pranks, you're sorry _now_?"

"Just let me explain!"

"Explain what?" Hermione snapped. It was a good thing that they were alone in the wing, because if there were other patients they would definitely be awake.

"You threw me in a lake, you burned my picture-"

"What picture? And no I didn't."

"Never mind," Hermione said harshly. "You trashed my room. You embarrassed me!"

"As you did to me! Charms!"

"You deserved that!"

"No I- Whatever! The point is that I'm sorry!"

"You're only sorry because you know you'll get in trouble."

"Nuh-uh!" he protested, but Hermione knew it was true by the way he wouldn't look at her. Well, sort of true, anyways.

"Madam Pomfrey!" Hermione called. Sirius' eyes widened.

"What are you doing, you twat, I'm not supposed to be here!"

"Black's in here and I want him out!"

Madam Pomfrey was out and walking towards them in half a second, a deadly look on her face.

"Out!" she said.

"But-"

"OUT!"

"Okay, okay!" he said, walking towards the door. Hermione watched them go.

Just about as they were about to walk out, Dumbledore came around the corner.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Madam Pomfrey said. "You're up early."

"There's no greater joy than watching the start of another beautiful day," Professor Dumbledore said simply. "If you would be so kind to lend me Sirius here, I would like to speak with him and Miss Alden."

Hermione's mouth popped open. Why would Dumbledore want to talk to her and Sirius?  
"Of- Of course, Professor," she said, hurrying back into her office.

"If you'd please..." Dumbledore said, walking towards Hermione.

"I do hope you have recovered, Miss Alden?"

"Almost," Hermione said, glaring at Sirius.

"Well, we won't be having these seventh year parties any more," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "But that's not the reason I wanted to talk to you two."

Sirius and Hermione looked at him in confusion, not quite sure what to think.

"Sirius here has been a bit behind on his Muggle Studies," Dumbledore said slowly, "But Hermione has the best grades in the class, and even the whole school."

Hermione's old pride sparked up once again as she tried not to look too proud. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I would like you, Hermione, to tutor Sirius in Muggle Studies."  
"Okay," Sirius said.

"What?" Hermione exclaimed.

"I must say, I thought the reactions would be the other way around," Dumbledore said humorously.

"But- couldn't the teacher do that?"

"Professor Winfrey has things to do. I heard that she wants to travel to America to host a new talk show, or perhaps wright a book."

"I have to what?" Hermione repeated, sputtering.

"Tutor me, Alden," Sirius said, smirking and smiling at the same time.

"I'm glad you're taking this well," Professor Dumbledore said. "It'll bring the two of you together, and quite frankly, I haven't seen a peer rivalry like yours since Gordric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin.

"Once a week, each lesson an hour should be enough," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "If you'll excuse us, Sirius, I need to talk to Hermione about her family issues."

"Family issues?" Sirius said, eyebrows raising.

"It's none of your business, Black," Hermione said in a controlled tone, considering that Dumbledore was right there. Sirius rolled his eyes and walked off, leaving Hermione to wonder about what on earth happened to the man she thought she hated.

"Miss Granger," Professor Dumbledore said, shaking her out of her trance. Hermione looked at him.

"I've done my research, and I was astounded to know that there is a type of time turner that not even I knew about," he said quietly and quickly. Hermione took a second to process that. He went on.

"It's similar to the white-gold time turner," he said slower this time, "It is called a bronze time turner. It can send you forward in time for one hour and one hour only," he said.

Hermione was silent. He wasn't done talking. There was a catch.

"There indeed is a catch," Dumbledore said, literally reading her mind. "You can only use it three times in your lifetime."

"Three times?"

"Yes. The white-gold time turner, you can use it as many times as you want, but if you are gone, say, for three months and come back, then you can not use the time turner again for another three months."

"What happens if you don't wait three months?" Hermione asked.

"You die," Dumbledore said. Hermione gulped.

"As for the bronze time turner, if you use it more than three times in a single lifetime, you die as well."

Hermione still waited.

"The bright side to this is that you will not have to wait a year to receive a bronze time turner. You should be able to see your friends shortly after Christmas."

Delight- Pure, warm happiness filled Hermione's veins. Her face lightened up and the bags under her eyes felt like they were disappearing.

"Really?" she breathed, a smile spreading over her face. She sat up straighter, more alert.

Dumbledore smiled warmly. "I'm glad to see you this happy. If'll you'll excuse me, I must get down to the Great Hall, I am quite hungry..."

"Thank you, thank you so much, Professor!" Hermione gushed.

"It was my pleasure," he smiled, turning and walking out of the wing.

"Hi again," Sirius said once again behind her. Hermione jumped and turned her head towards him angrily.

"Would you stop that?"

"Fine. I'll walk up to you like a normal human being."

"Not that! Being so- so- nice! It's so out of character!"

Hermione realized that him being so mean was out of character in the first place, seeing as he used to be so kind. So he was really back to normal. Hermione pushed those thoughts away.

"You want me to go back to the way I was?"

"No!"

"'Cause I can throw hexes at you as I chase you around the room if you want."

"No, you moron! I want you to leave me alone! I don't want to see you, hear you, or even breathe the same air you breathe! Just go away, please!"

"Let's talk about these tutoring lessons, shall we? What about-"

"Black," Hermione growled. Sirius stopped to look at her.

"No matter what you say or do, I will _not_ forgive you for what you did to me."

Sirius considered. "It's the little things that count."

"What on earth does that have to do with anything?"

He shrugged. "You'll see. Anyways, for these tutoring lessons-"

"If you're so smart, then why do you need me to tutor you?" Hermione snapped. Sirius whistled lowly.

"It seems like we've switched personalities, huh?"

Hermione huffed. "Fine. I'll try to be more- patient," Hermione said through clenched teeth, glaring at her blankets.

"Appreciate it, love."

"Call me love and I'll hex your stupid hair off your head."

"Hey! Not the hair," he said, stroking it. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Can I talk about tutoring without you interrupting me? It's quite frustrating."

"Me, frustrating?" Hermione said, looking at him with unbelief. "What about you, you little hypocrite?"

"See? This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about."

"Fine. Fine. Ask away, you filthy dog," Hermione snarled, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"Oh! Thanks for reminding me. How the fuck do you know about me being a dog?"

Hermione sighed. "I see your profanity hasn't changed."

"Eh, when will it? Answer it."

"I told you. You told me yourself in my third year."

"See, that's where it seems to be a bit out of order. I wasn't there in your third year. And like I would tell you."

"That's the truth."

"No it's not."

"Then I guess your truth hex was incorrect," Hermione said smartly. Sirius was silent for a moment.

"Touche," he said. "I'll get the truth out of you one day. Anyways, about these lessons. Like, once a week, right? So how about every Wednesday at eight?"

"No."

"What do you have on Wednesdays at eight?"

"I have a busy schedule of not talking to you."

"Girl, don't make me snap my fingers in the z formation."

"You are so annoying," Hermione groaned. "Fine, fine. I'm telling you, you're probably just being nice so that you can pull this ultimate prank on me."

Sirius slapped his leg. "Damn, should have thought of that."

Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Look, Black," she growled with such force that Sirius flinched. "I don't know what game you're playing. I don't care if you say sorry to me on bent knee, I will _never_ forgive you. One toe over the line, one hint that says that you might want to hurt me, I will make sure that you will never be able to have children."

Sirius blinked in surprise. Then a wide smile broke over his face.

"Oh, I'm playing a game. A dangerous one. You'll see, love," he said, walking out of the wing.

"Don't call me love," Hermione snarled under her breath.

* * *

**I know, I know. WHAT THE F!CK?! Trust me, okay? I know this seems random, and I have my doubts on this chapter, but so many of you are wondering if Sirius is ever going to be nice and some are getting very impatient. Here it is! I mean, how can you punch someone in the face and _not_ be sorry?**

**Unless it's Malfoy. That little shit.**

**I mean, punch someone in the face who doesn't deserve it. 'Cause Sirius definitely did!**

**Sorry if this chapter made you go- What. The fuck.**

**Stay classy,**

**RavenclawValdez007**


	12. Flash Out

**Author's note: Many have you to asked me to switch the pairing to Hermione/Remus. I'm sorry to say that I will not be switching it, but there is a bright side to this! Just keep on reading! **

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_Previous Chapter_

_"Look, Black," she growled with such force that Sirius flinched. "I don't know what game you're playing. I don't care if you say sorry to me on bent knee, I will never forgive you. One toe over the line, one hint that says that you might want to hurt me, I will make sure that you will never be able to have children."_

_Sirius blinked in surprise. Then a wide smile broke over his face._

_"Oh, I'm playing a game. A dangerous one. You'll see, love," he said, walking out of the wing._

_"Don't call me love," Hermione snarled under her breath._

* * *

Hermione was allowed out shortly after nine. Hermione was surprised; she assumed that Madam Pomfrey was a bit more laid back before.

"I don't want you playing any sports or doing anything extreme for the next few days," she warned as she took the bandages off her head. Hermione felt as good as new.

"Okay. Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said, walking out of the wing.

"You're welcome."

Hermione hurried to her dorm to pick up her things; she was already a bit late for Transfiguration. As soon as she stepped into the classroom, the entire class glanced her away and snickered. Hermione blushed; whatever she did yesterday must have been pretty bad. She still couldn't remember anything, and nobody had the time to visit her.

"Why are you late, Alden?" Professor McGonagall asked, but from the tone of her voice, she already had an idea of what happened.

"I was in the hospital wing and I only just got out," she explained. People looked like they were barely able to keep their laughter in.

"Alright, then. Sit down," she said and then returned to the lesson. Eyes seemed to follow her as she sat down next to Sirius. He was leaning back in his chair, smirking at her.

"Glad to see you're better, love," he said.

"Don't call me love," she growled, taking out her textbook. He remained silent for the most part, except towards the end. They had gone through the day's lesson rather quickly, and Professor McGonagall said that they could talk for the remaining ten minutes of class.

"So I was thinking, what should I bring for these tutoring lessons? You're not providing me with very much information-"

"Wait," Hermione said, stopping him. She had just remembered something.

"Did the middle of my sentence interrupt the beginning of yours? I didn't think so. So, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted-"

"Madam Pomfrey said that you weren't trying to punch me," Hermione said again, cutting him off, "But the person next to me."

Sirius stopped talking.

"Who?"

"Chase Madison. No one," he said quickly.

"Nice try, moron. Why?"

"Why should I tell you?" he said, crossing his arms.

"Because I'm the one that got punched in the face."

Sirius paused. "Do you know what he was doing?"

"No..."

"Oh. Well, in that case, I don't see any point in telling you."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Why not?"

"Because fuck you, that's why."

Hermione groaned. "I wish Lily was in this class."

"Ah, you don't need her! You've got me!"

"How fortunate," Hermione said in a sarcastic tone.

"See that, right there? You need to keep your sarcasm to a minimum."

"And you need to keep your profanity to a minimum."

"Look, 'Mione. We both know that that's not going to happen."

"Don't call me "'Mione"," Hermione growled.

"Fine, Herman."

"No, you moron! Call me by my last- You know what? Just stop talking to me and don't ever talk to ever again. Ever."

"How about no?"

"Why?" Hermione exclaimed. "Why are you suddenly being nice?"

"Well, here's the deal. Treating you badly didn't work, so I thought maybe if I wasn't such a douche, then things would be better."

"Glad to see you're so self-aware," Hermione huffed. "Wait- What didn't work?"

"Treating you badly."

"But what did you want to work?"

"Treating you badly."

"No, you idiot! What did you want the result to be?"

"Idunnothere'sthebellbye," Sirius said so quickly that she barely understood him. He was in such a hurry to get out of there that he left his quill behind. Hermione rolled her eyes and left the quill lying there as a present for the next student to arrive.

"Feeling okay?" came a voice that Hermione knew too well.

"Hey, Remus!" Hermione gushed, heart skipping a beat. "Yeah, I guess I'm feeling goodbye. Nobody's telling me anything- What happened last night?"

Remus snorted and tried to cover it as a sneeze. "Well- Are you sure you want to know?"

"Oh, just tell me."

"It was a long night."

"We have a free period."

Remus considered. "Sure. Common room?"

"Where will Black not be?"

"Common room it is."

The two of them headed towards Gryffindor tower, making small talk on the way there.

"So," Hermione said, settling down on the couch, Remus sitting down next to her.

"Well, it all started when Sirius forgot to put the stupid labels next to the punch bowls..."

Remus went on and on, describing how she kept on talking about "random" things.

"You were saying how we were all dead. Weird," he said before moving on. Hermione looked away, not wanting to look him in the eye.

She turned red as Remus started to talk about the pool.

"Well... Then you sort of... Never mind. Anyways, Lily had to give James CPR."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He actually sort of woke up in the middle of it and didn't bother stopping her. You know where that's heading."

"No, I meant is he okay, as in did he recover from Lily beating him half to death?"

Remus laughed. "Lily never got around to it."

"Why not?"

"She had a drunk child to take care of."

Hermione blushed pink. "Just on with the story."

Everything seemed alright, right until the part when she went into James' room.

"I did _what_?" Hermione exclaimed, blushing bright red.

"Played Spin the Bottle," Remus said, completely poker-faced.

"Did- Did I-?"

"Yeah," Remus said, looking like he had a clenched jaw. "Chase Madison."

Hermione made a face of absolute repulsion. Her insides churned as she said, "That explains why he was smirking at me during class."

"Padfoot went over and punched him in the face, though, so it was okay."

"What? I thought he punched _me._"

"Yeah, but he was in a fight with Madison."

Hermione was silent. "Why? He hates me."

Remus shrugged. "Anyways, you fell onto the bottle and the glass got stuck on your head. You passed out, and-" Remus paused "- I carried you to the hospital wing," he said quickly.

"Aw, thanks," Hermione said, smiling. She remembered all of the times she sat in his classroom. It was weird, seeing her old Professor in a new way.

Suddenly, a churning in her gut told her something wasn't right. Spots began to appear in her vision as she turned dizzy. Remus' face became blurry as Hermione slipped away, blacking out.

* * *

Hermione opened her eyes. She was aware of herself lying on the ground. She got up, grumbling. She rubbed her eyes, wondering where she was. Leaning against a wall, she took a look around. She was in the Weasley's house.

Hermione's heart skipped a beat- Was she forward in time, or had she just randomly transported? Hermione realized she was on the second floor. She burst into everyone's room, moving surprising fast and easily. No one was in any of their rooms. As usual, as Hermione opened Ron's door, the orange walls burned her eyes.

Her heart was thumping against her chest- Was she finally home? She ran down the stairs, not noticing anything particularly wrong. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs- Everyone was sitting at the table, eating dinner quietly. Ginny's eyes were red, as if she had been crying. Mrs. Weasley hung her head, with Mr. Weasley's arm around her. George had Teddy in his lap, and even the two of them seemed a bit down. Harry had a complete poker face, but sitting next to Ron, Hermione could see the worry in his green eyes. Exactly like Lily's.

Even Percy was there, along with Bill and Charlie. They all seemed a bit uncomfortable but miserable at the same time. There was Ron, who looked like he wasn't sure what to feel. Her seat across from Ron was empty.

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione cried, rushing forward. They didn't look up. Confusion struck her mind as Hermione put her hand on Harry's shoulder.

That's when Hermione finally noticed it- The blurry golden light around her. Hermione looked down at herself- She was glowing, transparent- Like a golden ghost. Panicked, Hermione looked across the room in the mirror that was always there. She saw Harry, who she was standing behind. But she didn't see herself.

A memory. That's what she was. Nothing but a ghost- Less than a ghost. She's not real to anyone but her. Hermione looked over their shoulder, and saw a rather old piece of parchment. Hermione leaned forward, as if to take it. She stopped herself- If she could pick it up, they'd be wondering why a piece of paper was doing floating in the air without anyone's wand pointed at it.

Hermione read it from over Harry's shoulder, who just flinched. Perhaps he could feel that someone- something- was behind him?

The piece of parchment was torn at the edges and a bit faded, but Hermione instantly recognized the loopy handwriting.

_Dear Friends of Hermione Granger,_

_Hello. My name is Albus Dumbledore, as you may know. I am writing from the year 1977. Something peculiar is going on, as you have noticed. Your friend Hermione Granger is stuck in time. The year 1977, in fact. She was handling a time turner when it broke, sending her back in time. I am afraid that she will never be back with you, but she will make visits as soon as she is able to. After a certain amount of time, she will be forced to go back to her own time._

_Do not worry- She is in school and has friends. I assure you that she is doing fine, physically and all. We are currently working out a solution for this problem. You should be able to see her in a few months, but I do not want to give you false hope. She will be permanently stuck back in time._

_Best Wishes,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brain Dumbledore_

Hermione understood why they were all sulking- They had just received the letter that Dumbledore had cleverly written to them in the future. He must have kept it in his office and told Professor McGonagall to give it to them on this very day.

"Well," Ginny choked, "I think I'll be going up now."

She rushed out of her chair, hand over her mouth. It hurt terrible to see Ginny in so much pain, especially when she was right there and nobody knew.

"Ginny!" Hermione called, and she accidentally knocked aside a lamp onto the ground with her hand. So she _could_ move things. Everyone stared at the lamp on the floor, and Ginny stayed put at the bottom of the stairs.

Hermione acted quickly- She just wanted to let them know she was okay. And besides, they already knew that something was up, might as well continue on with it. Hermione rushed forward and grabbed a quill from nearby.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

"George, are you doing this?" Mrs. Weasley said sternly.

"I swear," he said, and for once he looked dead serious. Hermione grabbed the letter and flipped it over. She was thinking of something to write as everyone gasped, but she could feel herself slip away again.

What should she write? How she's sorry for being an idiot? How she wishes she had done different?

_Please don't cry. I miss you all. Love, H-_ Hermione was about to sign her name until her hand disappeared, the quill dropping on the table. She saw herself slowly flickering out of view, Harry jumping up and looking at the parchment in amazement. Ginny rushed forward and would have walked right into Hermione if she hadn't disappeared at that very moment.

* * *

"Hermione, wake up please!" a panicked voice said. Hermione's eyes fluttered open.

She was aware of someone shaking her. By the aching of her neck, Hermione could tell that she was on the ground. She groaned as the person's hand pulled her into a sitting position.

"Hermione, are you alright?" the same voice said, obviously relieved. Hermione's vision cleared, and she saw Remus. The young one. She looked around- She was back in 1977.

A black out. No, flash back. No, that didn't make sense- A flash out. Mixing of the two.

"What- What happened?" Hermione grumbled.

"You just passed out, and you wouldn't wake up, and you were out for twenty minutes!" Remus exclaimed, worry in his eyes. "Are you okay? You kept on screaming!"

"I- I was screaming?" she asked groggily. She didn't remember screaming in her flash out. "What was I screaming?"

"Nothing, you were just screaming, and you sounded like you were in pain, and I had no idea what to do-"

Hermione chuckled softly. Remus stopped talking to look at her.

"You were so worried," she said softly.

"Of course I was," he said slowly. They stared at each other. Then, Remus just leaned forward and kissed her.

It took Hermione by surprise as his arms wrapped around her, but she eventually leaned forward and looped her arms around his neck.

After what seemed like ages, they pulled apart, both breathing a bit heavily. They stared at the ground for a second or so, Remus holding her hand.

Hermione threw her arms around him, hugging him. She felt a single tear running down her cheek as he hugged her back.

"Hermione Alden, will you go out with me?" he asked softly.

"Of course," she responded, smiling.

* * *

**I told you there was a bright side! See ya later, peeps!**


	13. The Truth is Out

_Previous Chapter_

_After what seemed like ages, they pulled apart, both breathing a bit heavily. They stared at the ground for a second or so, Remus holding her hand._

_Hermione threw her arms around him, hugging him. She felt a single tear running down her cheek as he hugged her back._

_"Hermione Alden, will you go out with me?" he asked softly._

_"Of course," she responded, smiling._

* * *

The two of them were dating, technically, but they decided to not tell anyone just yet. Hermione had to tell Lily, of course, and she said so at lunch.

"You and Remus are finally going out?!" Lily exclaimed, choking on her food. Hermione shushed her, but many heads turned. Remus, who was sitting next to her, face palmed.

"Nice to keep it quiet," Hermione muttered, turning a bit red as people started to whisper. Hermione looked around, and luckily not many people were here. They were early, and not even Sirius and James were there to witness this.

Hermione was happy, of course, but she just had this uneasy feeling in her stomach, like she was doing something terribly wrong. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, though.

"Okay, let's get this over with," Hermione grumbled, walking into the empty classroom she and Sirius agreed to meet in at eight.

"Finally, you're here."

"It's five minutes before eight. I'm actually early."

"Whatever. So, what have you got for me, Professor Alden?"

"Don't say that," Hermione snapped, pulling out some books from her bag. "Let's start with the basics, shall we?"

"Please."

"Okay," Hermione said, sitting down at the desk next to Sirius. "So, chapter one in this book is about electricity. It's an important thing in- What are you doing?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"Nothing."

Sirius was not giving her any space at all. He was continuing to scoot closer to her, and he was not a millimeter away from her.

"You'll need to speak up, Herman. I can't hear you."

"Fine. Just back off!"

Hermione tried to push his chair away from hers, but no such luck.

"Move!"

"I'll move when you stop being so rude."

"Ugh!" Hermione exclaimed, backing away. Finally, Sirius scooted away to a reasonable distance of a seven inches.

"Okay. Muggles don't have magic, and they need light, entertainment, and other sources."

Hermione kept on talking about important things that muggles used with electricity for about ten minutes. She was just getting started on the microwave when Hermione noticed something.

Sirius was doodling on a piece of spare parchment. Hermione smacked his arm.

"What was that for?" he exclaimed, rubbing his arm and shoving the paper out of view.

"Are you even paying attention?"

"Yeah, totally! I was, er, writing down notes!"

"Oh? really? Let me see your notes, then."

"What? No!"

"Let me see, Black!"

"Alright, alright! I'll pay attention. It's hard to when you're so freaking boring."

"Fine," Hermione said, face turning a bit pink. "Tell you what- If you get an A on the upcoming essay about Muggle jobs, we'll do something fun."

"Fun? Like what?"

"Our teachers used to let us watch movies every Friday of the last week of the month. We could do that or watch a few muggle television episodes."

"What's a television?"

"We'rent you paying attention at all?"

"No."

Hermione sighed and looked down at her watch. Twelve minutes have passed. "Okay, but really pay attention. I'm not getting payed; you're lucky I'm doing this at all."

"Isn't my presence enough payment?"

Hermione groaned. "How bad were you doing that Dumbledore made me tutor you?"

"The best grade I got was a D."

"The _best_?"

"On a good day a got a T."

"What on earth is worse than a T?"

"She went far enough to be sarcastic about it."

He pulled out a quiz that had just yesterday. It had what looked like the letter O on it, but there were red crosses on each and every question. Hermione snorted.

"That's not an O. That's a zero. Out of twenty."

"What the hell?"

"Some teachers like that way. In fact, that's how muggle teachers grade papers. Out of one hundred, out of fifty, out of twenty-five-"

Sirius gave a dramatic yawn.

"That's another three minutes we've wasted!" Hermione exclaimed, slightly offended. Maybe he wasn't a complete jerk, but he was still pretty rude.

For the next forty-five minutes, Hermione forced Sirius to take notes and pay attention, snapping her fingers in front of his face every time he seemed to drift away. She managed to cram six chapters worth of information into Sirius' mind, a chapter ahead of the class itself.

"There," Hermione said with triumph as nine o'clock rolled around.

"My mind hurts," Sirius complained.

"That's good. The essay's due on Monday, so I assume that you'll manage to do that yourself-"

"No I need help!"

"I only tutor you once a week!"

"But you're my teacher! You're supposed to make sure I don't fail! Or I'll complain to Dumbledore that you haven't been doing a very good job tutoring me!"

Hermione groaned. "Fine! Sunday at seven, thirty minutes!"

"Too short!"

"Forty-five?"

"Seriously, woman! What do you expect to accomplish in that amount of time?"

"Fine! An hour!"

"And fifteen minutes," Sirius added. He was heading towards the door before Hermione could protest.

"Appreciate it, love," Sirius called after her as he walked out the door.

"Don't call me... Oh, forget it," she snarled.

The next two days passed by surprising fast after that. She and Remus agreed to go to Honeyduke's, The Three Broomsticks, and then a new bookstore that was rumored to be huge.

Hermione was happy with Remus, of course. But she had this pit in her stomach, telling her that she was doing something wrong and breaking many rules. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but every time she was with him, the thought stayed in the back of her mind.

...oOo...

"Oi, Moony! Zonko's, eh?" Sirius called over, but Remus shook his head. They were currently in Hogsmeade, and James, Peter, and Sirius were walking to Zonko's when they spotted Remus waiting by the fountain. They had wondered where he was.

"Can't. I'm going with Hermione to the bookstore over there," he said, a smile creeping up his face. Sirius stopped in his tracks.

"Hermione?" he said. Remus nodded.

"Yes, Sirius."

"Alden?"

"No, Williams. Of course!" Remus said, rolling his eyes. "Where have you been for the past week?"

"So... You asked her out?"

"Pretty much. Why?"

"Nothing. Nothing. That's awf-some," Sirius said, face twitching. Remus looked at him weirdly.

"Okay," he said slowly. Sirius forced a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione walking over, dressed in a light-blue sleeveless shirt, jeans, and light-blue converse high-top sneakers. She was tugging on a white jacket, suggesting that she had just ran out of the door and didn't have time for a jacket. Sirius' heart skipped a beat, like it always does when he sees her. Hermione ignored Sirius and smiled at Remus, who beamed right back.

"Ready?" he asked, kissing her on the forehead.

"Ready," Hermione said. Remus waved, and they began to walk in the opposite direction of Zonko's, shoulders nearly touching.

"Huh. Moony's finally gotten a girlfriend," James said. Sirius managed to nod stiffly. James noticed his face.

"Wormtail, you go ahead. We'll meet you there." Peter nodded, heading off to Zonko's.

"Yeah. That's awf-some," he choked. "Just awf-some."

James studied his face. "Sirius Orion Black, are you _jealous_?"

"No. No. No. No. I'm not. I'm not. No. Don't suggest ridiculous ideas, Prongs!" Sirius said, forcing a laugh.

"Padfoot, do you fancy Hermione?" James said, and Sirius gave a short laugh.

"No. No. Why would you be suggesting something like that? I don't. I don't. No. No. It doesn't bother me at all that one of my best mate's going out with the girl I li- don't. Like," Sirius stuttered. James stopped, and clapped him on the back.

"It looks like you've got a little crush!" James exclaimed.

"What? No I don't. I don't. I don't!" he yelled. "Crush? No. No, I don't like her! I'm happy for Remus! That's awf-some," Sirius stuttered, now positively forcing a smile.

"Padfoot, you've got to tell them," James said calmly.

"Tell him what? That I like his girlfriend?" Sirius exploded, defeated, sitting down on the curb and holding his head in his hands. James sat next to him, and patted him on the back.

"It's not like Moony will be like, "Oh, you like my girlfriend? Here, you can have her!""

"I know, I know," he said sympathetically. "You're just gonna have to wait it out."

"No offense to Moony, but- Why would she pick him over me?" Sirius asked, puffing out a breath that made a piece of his hair fly up.

"Gee, I wonder. Maybe it's because you've been acting like a complete ass for the past couple of weeks?"

"You too!"

"Shut up, that's not the point. Looks aren't everything, you know."

"They were enough for every other chick!"

"Padfoot, Padfoot, Padfoot. You have so much to learn about love."

"I see that you and Lily are going pretty strongly."

"Let me finish. You sure have a strange way of reacting to crushes."

"No, at first I really did hate her, but then I didn't! And I didn't know what the fuck to do!"

"Why did you hate her?" James questioned, crossing his legs like he was a psychologist.

"Because! She was a bitch!"

"What did she do?"

"She fucking rejected me!" Sirius exclaimed. James looked at him for a second, and then he threw his head back and laughed.

"So- You went and threw her in a lake! You're like a kid who throws a temper when his mother doesn't let him buy a toy because he keeps on breaking them."

"It's just- Every time I see her, I get these pains in my chest, and I just know it's her fault, that bitch!"

James chuckled. "Well, if you want Hermione, then you'll need to start acting like a gentleman."

"But I am!"

James rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so maybe I'm not. But still!"

"I'll help you get Hermione. But not yet."

"Why not?" Sirius yelped.

"She's still with Moony."

"So?"

"Moony is my best mate, too."

"But I'm your better best mate."

James rolled his eyes. "Some girls don't really find it attractive that a guy's been with a kabillion other chicks."

"It means I have experience, though!"

"No, Padfoot. It means you're a player of sorts."

"Well, I don't care. I don't. I don't even know why I'm talking to you about this because I don't care. Moony can date whoever her wants and I don't care. At all. Not one bit. I don't care."

James rolled his eyes. "Sure, Pads. Let's get to Zonko's, I think you're freaking out."

...oOo...

"So, the bookstore?" Hermione said, carrying a small bag of sweets. Remus had a slightly larger bag filled with chocolate and fudge.

"Right after the Three Broomsticks. By the way, I said that I'd meet up with the lads. Sorry," he said, laughing at Hermione's expression.

"Oh, god no. Will Black be there?" she groaned.

"Sadly."

Hermione laughed as they walked into the three broomsticks. They spotted James and Sirius sitting at a table in the corner, talking among themselves. As

Hermione suspected, James was asking Tigen about Lily, and Sirius was flirting with a blond Hufflepuff. Hermione sat unwillingly across from him, and scooted her chair as close to Remus as possible."Hello," Remus greeted while Hermione stayed silent. James turned around and smiled, and Sirius glanced over his shoulder and forced a smile.

"You guys are all lovey-dovey! That's awf-some!" Sirius said while James rolled his eyes. Hermione ignored Sirius like usual.

"So. Hermione," Sirius said, leaning forward. Hermione leaned back.

"I'm only here because Remus is. Get away," Hermione said, scrunching up her face in disgust.

"Yeah? Well- Well- Hmhpm," he said, leaning back. Hermione thought she saw James nudge Sirius in the ribs.

They talked for ages. Really, it was only twenty minutes or so, but it felt like forever. Finally, Hermione couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay. Can we go now?" Hermione pleaded. "I know that these are your friends, but I think that Sirius wants to go back to flirting with that Hufflepuff."

"I don't-" Sirius started to say, but Hermione stood up, and Remus stood up with her.

"Let's go, Remus," Hermione said tiredly. She was sure that Sirius' eyes were on her back as she and Remus walked out.

They began to head towards the store, turning a corner into a rather dark alley. Hermione was actually a bit reluctant to walk in it; no sunlight shone threw, it was very narrow, and smoke puffed out from a crack in a pipe. She walked close behind Remus, knowing this was a short cut.

Finally, they stepped out of the alley, and Hermione inhaled for the first time.

"Right over there," Remus said, grabbing her hand and pointing to a store next to Zonko's. Hermione turned a shade of red, and Remus seemed to realize that he grabbed her hand on instinct. They both looked down at their locked hands, blushed, smiled shyly, and kept on walking.

They entered the book store, and Hermione's jaw dropped. The place was huge- The bookshelves must have been fifty feet high, with stairs leading to the higher ones. There were bridges among the tallest bookshelves, and ladders for the slightly shorter ones. ***I****magine a library like the one in Beauty and The Beast.* **

"Whoa," Remus said, looking at the right part of the giant place. Hermione turned her head, and gasped.

A brilliant sun room lay ahead of them, with dozens of matching arm chairs and love seats. The sun shone threw the giant windows and poured over the seats. This place had to have been enlarged by magic, and Hermione had no idea how she could see brilliant green fields from out the windows. Magic.

"Well?" Remus said, nudging her. Hermione blinked; she was momentarily dozing out. "Let's go get some books."

"Oh. Yeah," Hermione said breathlessly. "Books. That would be a good idea."

Twenty minutes later, Hermione came back to the sun room, arms full of books. She sat in a love seat, for Remus had not returned yet. She opened the very first book, one labeled Time-Turners- A Mysterious Invention.

"Hey," Remus said about ten minutes later, making her jump. He chuckled as he sat down next to her, carrying a single book. It was very thick; the pages were like thin cardboard. The cover was a faded red color, the corners bound by leather as well as the spine. It had no title, and Hermione was surprised that it was for sale at all. It looked like something a library would have.

"Just one book?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"Yes, but look-" he said, opening to the first page. There was a single line, and Hermione brought the book closer to her face to read it.

"The Universe," Hermione read out loud. "The Theory."

"Mysterious, isn't it?" Remus grinned.

"I suppose so," Hermione said, flipping the page. Her eyes bulged.

"Whoa," she whispered.

In front of her, was a marvelous painting- It looked like crystal balls, except there were many lined up next to each other in a black background. It the crystal balls, there were many galaxies, super stars, and more- Each crystal ball was a universe.

For the next hour, she and Remus poured over the book, Hermione's original pile forgotten. Remus eventually went back to get about five other books, as well as Hermione, except she got about fifteen. Hermione's were all about the Multi-Universe theory.

They walked out of the store. Hermione was shocked to realize that they spent hours there- As soon as they stepped out of the shop, the owner turned the sign over on the door to closed. The sun was long gone. Luckily, they were seventh years and were allowed after dark as long as they came back before midnight.

Hermione looked up at the moon. It was a waxing gibbous; only a few days before the full moon. Hermione glanced at Remus; he did seem a bit more alert, yet the bags under his eyes were more prominent than usual.

Hermione was having a hard time carrying her books, especially with that large one that Remus she kept. He even bought it for her, and he did not allow Hermione to pay him back.

"Here," Remus said, extending a hand.

"You don't want to carry this, it's so heavy."

"It's fine. I get my exercise."

"Really? You don't play Quidditch."

"I have my ways," he said quickly, glancing at the moon. "Just give me the stupid bag."

Hermione laughed as she handed the bag to him.

They arrived in the common room moments later, both a bit tired.

"Good night," Hermione said, Remus handing her her bag.

"Night," he responded. They both awkwardly stood there, just looking at each other. Remus leaned in.

"AHHHHH!" a voice came from right behind her. Hermione screamed, tripping over her own feet and landing on the ground. Remus quickly bent down to help her up. There was laughter, but it was coming from more than one person.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Remus complained loudly as he pulled Hermione up by the hand, whose heart was still beating. Sirius and James had taken off the invisibility cloak, and they were laughing so hard they were leaning on each other for support. Remus was bright red; from anger or embarrassment, Hermione couldn't tell.

"We thought we'd pop in!" James howled.

"Yes, it seemed like you two were having the time of your lives!" Sirius roared.

"Good night," Hermione said stiffly, picking up her bag and rushing to her dorm.

"Wait- Hold on- Good night!" he called over their laughter. Hermione slid the door shut with unnecessary force, painting swinging shut behind it, closing out the laughter.


	14. The Games Begin

**Please pretend that Sirius is a Beater, even if he isn't. Thanks!**

_Previous Chapter_

_"AHHHHH!" a voice came from right behind her. Hermione screamed, tripping over her own feet and landing on the ground. Remus quickly bent down to help her up. There was laughter, but it was coming from more than one person._

_"You've got to be kidding me!" Remus complained loudly as he pulled Hermione up by the hand, whose heart was still beating. Sirius and James had taken off the invisibility cloak, and they were laughing so hard they were leaning on each other for support. Remus was bright red; from anger or embarrassment, Hermione couldn't tell._

_"We thought we'd pop in!" James howled._

_"Yes, it seemed like you two were having the time of your lives!" Sirius roared._

_"Good night," Hermione said stiffly, picking up her bag and rushing to her dorm._

_"Wait- Hold on- Good night!" he called over their laughter. Hermione slid the door shut with unnecessary force, painting swinging shut behind it, closing out the laughter._

* * *

"So, you're the the commentator on the match?"

Hermione and Remus were heading down to the Quidditch pitch. It was the first game of the season. Remus told her that James would be chaser and Sirius a beater.

"I'm just a replacement. The usual one's in the hospital wing for now, but I like it. I did it last year one time, too."

"I sort of thought James was a seeker," Hermione said, thinking of Harry.

"He would do well as a seeker, but he prefers scoring."

"Hey Moony!" Sirius exclaimed from behind them, shoving in between them. James followed suit, sandwiching himself between Sirius and Remus.

"Er- Guys-"

"Say, Moony- What do think Evans would say to a double-date?" James asked, looking around. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Don't you have to date her before you go off thinking about dates?"

"Shut up, Padfoot."

They were both in their Quidditch uniforms, brooms slung over their shoulders.

"Shouldn't you two be in the locker rooms? Especially the captain?" Remus said.

"Ah, they can manage themselves. Besides, we needed to make sure that you two are coming."

"I'll be in the stands," Hermione, walking ahead of them.

"Er- Bye?" he said awkwardly. Hermione rolled her eyes. Boys are so clueless.

Hermione tried to find Lily in the stands. She found her sitting alone in the front.

"Hi, Lily," Hermione said brightly. Lily didn't look at her and glared at the sky.

"What?"

"Oh, so _now_ you notice me," she said. "Only when your _boyfriend_ isn't here do you pay me any attention."

"Wait- Lily, what are you talking about?"

"Ever since that you've been going out with Remus, you're always with him! At meals, at Hogsmeade, everywhere!"

"Lily, I'm so sorry! I had no idea!"

Lily sniffed. "I almost went dress shopping alone."

Hermione was a bit surprised. "What?"

"Did you forget? The Christmas ball!"

"Oh yeah- That. It's a few months away, though."

"So? By then all of the good dresses will be gone!"

"I think I might already have a dress," Hermione said slowly, thinking back to the silver, liquid-like dress in her dresser.

"You're still going with me."

"Alright! I promise I'll spend more time with you, and I'm sorry for ignoring you."

"You are forgiven. Now shush, the game's starting."

Sure enough, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams had just walked out onto the field. James shook hands with the Slytherin captain who looked like twice his size in width. They mounted their brooms, and a young brunette Madam Hooch blew the whistle.

They took off into the air, a tweedy boy in Gryffindor uniform shooting off into the sky, squinting. A buff guy in blue robes was on the opposite side of the pitch, scanning the field.

A Ravenclaw chaser had the quaffle, and she was actually very good- She faked out the Gryffindor team, did little flips and twists that Hermione had never seen before.

"What's her name?" Hermione asked, intrigued. The other chasers just flew around her, but they didn't even bother trying to get her to pass the quaffle- she was doing fine on her own.

"The chaser? Probably the best in the whole school- She might even be better than Potter. Her name's Caylin Bond- She's a sixth year."

Hermione nodded. She flew up into the air just as two Gryffindor chasers came at her at the same time, smashing into each other. She threw the ball towards the left ring, and it surpassed the keeper. All of the Slytherins and half of the Hufflepuffs cheered.

"A brilliant goal scored by Caylin Bond, chaser of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. The score is ten to nothing..." Hermione heard Remus say, paying attention to what he was saying for the first time.

"He's very unbiased," Hermione noted. Lily shrugged.

"The other one sure wasn't; Roger Jordan," Lily said. Hermione raised her eyebrows; apparently it ran in the family.

Hermione's attention snapped back into the game as the loud thwack of Sirius' bat hitting against a bludger towards the other team. It distracted them as James flew by, quaffle in hand. He weaved in and out of the other players and easily dodged the bludgers that were getting hit towards him. The only chaser on his tail was Caylin. An extra burst of speed gave James the opportunity to score, flinging the quaffle above his head. The keeper brushed his fingers against the quaffle, but it bounced off and flew threw the middle ring.

Hermione applauded and yelled along with her house as James flew around the pitch, hands in the air.

"Does he always do that?" Hermione asked, wrinkling her nose a bit.

"Yes."

It went on like that, on and off. No team ever scored twice in a row, points always scored by Caylin and James.

"Wow, Ravenclaw's really good," Hermione muttered as Caylin made it seventy-sixty.

"It's because of Caylin and Christian Cress- He's the keeper."

"You call her Caylin?"

"We're on good terms. She's not mean or stubborn like the rest of her team... She doesn't hog the fame, and loves talking about anything but Quidditch. She honestly gets annoyed when people only talk to her for Quidditch."

"She must have a hard time getting a boyfriend, then."

Lily laughed softly. "Yes, she's been single for quite some time after her break-up with Chase Madison."

"Chase Madison?"

"Yes!"

"He doesn't play Quidditch?"

"No! Shh!" Lily hushed. Hermione rolled her eyes.

Finally, the Ravenclaw seeker dove down- Hermione caught a hold of a gold glitter hovering not a foot above the ground.

"No, no, no," Hermione muttered. Out of nowhere, the Gryffindor boy swept in front of him, scooping the snitch in his hands.

Hermione stood on her feet and cheered as he pulled into the air, fist clutched around the struggling snitch. The Gryffindor house exploded. One by one, the Gryffindor team members slammed into the seeker, the snitch somehow still in his fist.

* * *

"Oi, Alden!" a voice yelled over all of the talking. They were just celebrating the first win of the year. Hermione turned her head, she was just talking to Lily.

"What?" Hermione said, annoyed. No response. She knew at once it was Sirius.

"Come one, Lily," Hermione said.

"What? Potter's probably there, I don't want to be near him."

"I'm not leaving you alone."

Hermione pulled Lily by the wrist towards the voice. Pushing past a group of first years, Hermione found Remus, James, and Sirius. Sirius was trying to talk to Lana, who was for the most part ignoring him. Lana's eyes brightened as she saw Hermione. Hermione was impressed and rather surprised that Lana was ignoring Sirius, who was probably trying to flirt with her.

"Hi, Hermione!" Lana said.

"Hello, Lana. What do you want, Black?"

"Nothing."

"Then- Then why'd you call me over?"

"I didn't."

"Then who said my name?"

"Calm down, Hermione! Have a drink! It's supposed to be a party!" Sirius exclaimed, pushing a cup of punch into her hands. Hermione made a face of disgust and unbelief at Sirius. He laughed.

"There's first years at this party, I can't spike the punch..."

Cautiously, Hermione took a sip. It tasted completely normal.

"I'm beginning to think that you're avoiding me," Remus said, putting his arm over her shoulder. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Lily's insisting that I spend more time with her because I've been with you too much."

"Reasonable."

"I'm going with Lily on the next Hogsmeade trip, too." It was a bit odd, there were a lot more Hogsmeade trips now then there were in the future.

"Alright. The lads have been insisting for me to go to Zonko's with them."

"There's a new product- fake vomit! Flexible and slimy, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between! Exploding quills, and-"

"That's enough, Prongs."

* * *

So it was just Lily and Hermione that Hogsmeade trip. Lily dragged her off to Ramona Crow's. Hermione inspected the silver dress in her dresser, but it was so liquidity that Hermione couldn't quite tell what it looked like without putting it on.

"This is going to take a while, so nothing but this," Lily said. Hermione was slightly disappointed; she was hoping for some time at the bookstore.

"I'm thinking of something dark green. Bit of a Slytherin color."

"Yeah, but it really suits you."

"True. The greens are at the back of the store."

Hermione followed Lily. The store was much more crowded than the time that that visited before Halloween.

"If everyone's shopping for dresses months before, wouldn't it make sense to go a week before Christmas when nobody's here?"

"Stop thinking logically, Hermione. I'm here for my dress."

After forty minutes of exhausting searching, Lily finally settled on four dresses, all olive or dark green. One was a ball gown, another empire. The ball gown had no sleeves and on the skirt part, starting from the waist. The empire dress had flouncy silk sleeves and a line of jewels below the bust. The other two were a column and a princess-like dress. The princess-like dress was a a corset dress, with long tight-fitting sleeves. The column dress was simple; just dark green all the way.

"I say either the ball gown or the empire dress," Hermione decided.

"That's what I was thinking," Lily said simply as she put the others back.

After about an hour of Hermione just telling her to pick one, Lily constantly trying out the two, they finally came to a result.

"The thing is, this ball gown has more cons than pros, and the empires has more pros than cons, but the empire dress has more cons than the ball gown!" Lily would say every time she did a turn in the mirror.

"Do you know who you're going with?" Hermione asked.

"Of course!"

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Hermione demanded, standing up and letting her purse fall to the floor.

"I've been trying to keep it a secret! Sit down!" Lily hissed as heads turned their way.

"It's not Potter, if that's what your thinking."

"Aw, he's going to have to go to that party alone!"

Lily shrugged. "So will Black. He'll just dance with every girl instead of getting a date."

"Who is it? Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend!"

"You were so lost in Remus' face that I didn't bother."

"I told you, I'm sorry!"

"His name is Nathaniel Walkers, if you're asking."

"The tall one?"

"Yes."

"With sandy brown hair?"

"Yes."

"And blue eyes?"

"Yes!"

"Just making sure!"

Lily finally decided on the ball gown.

"Wait!" Lily exclaimed. "I need shoes."

Hermione groaned. "I've got about fifty pairs, just pick from mine! I'm sure you'll find a pair!"

"You know, if you didn't have your own stuff you'd be just as eager to shop."

"I'm sure. Let's head back."

It was sundown as they headed towards Hogwarts. Hermione bid Lily goodbye, who was for once staying in the Head's dorms. Hermione walked into her own dorm and almost had a heart attack.

Lana was sitting there on her bed with this giant grin on her face.

"How on earth did you get in here?" Hermione breathed, placing a hand over her heart.

"Easy! Sirius told me!"

"But- My password!"

"He said he heard you muttering it one time. What does Granger mean?"

"Nothing, just a random word," Hermione. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Lana squealed. "Sirius asked me out! I needed to tell you!"

"Wh- You know I hate him!" Hermione exploded.

"That doesn't mean I can't date him!"

"And you haven't before?"

"Don't act so surprised, Hermione."

Lana closely observed her reactions. Hermione was a bit angry at Lana, but she the uneasy feeling in her stomach that she had ever since she was going out with Remus doubled, did five black flips, went up her throat, back down and twisted her insides. Hermione wasn't quite sure what it was, but she hated it.

"Anyways. Just thought you should know! Biya!" she squealed, hopping out of her room. Hermione stood there, shocked for a few moments as the door slid behind her. After a minute or so, Hermione pulled herself together and reset her password again.

* * *

**Ah! Last day of summer! NOOOOO DON'T LEAVE!**

**I now have limited time to write! So only expect an update once a week, please! Thanks! Toodles!**


	15. Christmas Part One

**My gods you guys are impatient.**

**One person said, "It's been like three weeks since the last day of summer."**

**For me, it was just last Monday. Calm down. Not everyone in the entire world goes to your school.**

**I have shit to do, you know.**

**GIVE ME SOME FUCKING TIME, PEOPLE!**

**PS- Chinese school (For me) is on Saturday, so expect chapters on only Sunday and Saturday night {maybe.})**

**Now that school has begun, I cannot upload a chapter for every two days. I can only update once a week.**

**When you get to the dress part, if you would like to see what Hermione's dress looks like, go to Prom girl . com (No spaces, it's just that the site won't let me put it together) and type in, "silver dress" in the search bar. The picture I am using for her dress should be labeled "Silver Evening Dress" by Flirt. For Lily's dress, go to CoralBuy . com and type in "ball gown long dark green" and it should be the second one. The girl with the crown thing. Tiara. Whatever. I think you can search any other dresses yourself, or use your imagination! Remember, I described the dresses before looking for images, (****except for Lana's)** so it took a long time to find something that fit the stupid descriptions. I was surprised I found Hermione's dress so easily.

**Whatever! Enough girl talk!**

**I AM NOT ADVERTISING! THIS IS ONLY A DISPLAY OF WHAT THE DRESSES LOOK LIKE!**

**All characters besides from my own belong to J. K. Rowling; I own only the plot.**

**There are two AVPM references in here- Try to find them!**

**Thanks for all of the reviews!**

**Toodles!**

* * *

_Previous Chapter_

_"Oh, you don't know?" Lana squealed. "Sirius asked me out! I needed to tell you!"_

_"Wh- You know I hate him!" Hermione exploded._

_"That doesn't mean I can't date him!"_

_"And you haven't before?"_

_"Don't act so surprised, Hermione."_

_Lana closely observed her reactions. Hermione was a bit angry at Lana, but the uneasy feeling in her stomach that she had ever since she was going out with Remus doubled, did five black flips, went up her throat, back down and twisted her insides. Hermione wasn't quite sure what it was, but she hated it._

_"Anyways. Just thought you should know! Biya!" she squealed, hopping out of her room. Hermione stood there, shocked for a few moments as the door slid behind her. After a minute or so, Hermione pulled herself together and reset her password again._

* * *

The next few weeks passed with ease; Christmas seemed to be seconds away. For the next month or so, Sirius and Lana were still going steady. Everyone was muttering about how Black had finally found someone he was happy with; and the majority of the school was just surprised. Hermione couldn't really care less, really.

"So, Sirius' taking me to that big bookstore you said he liked. He said that since you liked it and he thinks I'm just like you if not better than he thinks that I would like it," Lana would usually say whenever she and Hermione settled down to talk somewhere.

"That's nice."

"Then he's taking me to Ramona Crow's because he thinks I deserve it."

That's nice."

"He thinks that if you can wear something from Ramona Crow's, than I can totes wear it."

"That's nice."

"Then he's taking me to Zonko's because he actually likes me that much to take me with him to do his prankster shopping."

"That's _nice_, Lana," Hermione said a bit forcefully.

"Why so harsh?" she said immediately.

"I'm tired of you talking about Sirius all the time!"

"You called him Sirius."

"Whatever! What about the ball, have you gotten a dress?" Hermione knew that she was making a drastic mistake asking Lana about clothes, especially something like a dress for an important event, but she desperately wanted Lana to stop talking about Sirius.

"Well, I've got this just gorgeous ball gown! It's a hot-pink ball gown! It's really big, like all of the ball gowns, but it has no straps! Oh, and has ruffles. Waist down. No, ruffles from below the bust! No! Waist down. No! Yes. No! Okay, yeah. And I'm wearing a sparkly necklace, I dunno what it's called, and stud earrings. Actually, what would look better? Stud or dangly? Is stud the right term? Is dangly a word?"

Usually Hermione could sit there nodding for thirty minutes as Lana went on and on, just talking about random things she got distracted by.

"Speaking of dresses, I have like three party dresses. What should I wear to the Easter Party?"

"What? Why are there so many parties?"

"That's how we do it. All the girls dress up in, like, pastel gowns and put on bunny ears. The guys just wear pastel cocktail vests and pants, or whatever. Speaking of pastels, I'm thinking of getting pastel highlights. Do those exist? I think so. They should. What am I saying? Anywaysies, yeah, there's an Easter party."

Hermione groaned. "Why are there so many events involving dresses?"

"Don't forget the end-of-the-year dance."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course. Do you mean a prom?"

"What's a prom?"

"That's what they call it in the muggle world."

"What ball gown do you have for the Christmas Ball?" Lana asked, forgetting about Hermione's muggle remark.

"I didn't get a ball gown."

"Really?"

"Why, is it like tradition, or something?"

"No," Lana said slowly, "But it's a _ball._ _Ball_ gowns?"

"Is it a requirement to wear a ball gown? I've seen those things, they're like tripping machines. I can barely walk in heels themselves."

"No, it's not a requirement. It's just the trend."

"Wearing ball gowns daily is a trend?"

"Bitch, it might be."

Hermione was a bit taken aback, forgetting that Lana had a bit of profanity sprinkled here and there. She must have gotten it from Sirius. Lana laughed.

"It's just fashion," Lana shrugged. Hermione decided to ask Lily about it at dinner.

"You mean you didn't get a ball gown?" Lily asked. Hermione sighed as she placed her fork down.

"No. Will you tell me what the big deal is? Lana never gives a reasonable answer."

"I can relate. There's not much to explain- What about this? Wearing anything besides a ball gown to the Ball is like wearing a Ball gown to a cocktail party."

"I see," Hermione said slowly. It was strange; in the Triwizard Tournament's Christmas ball, Hermione saw plenty of people in other dresses. She was personally wearing a periwinkle blue empire-like dress with ruffles.

"But I guess wearing another long dress to the ball would be better than wearing a ball gown to a cocktail party," Lily reasoned. "Whatever. Just wear whatever you already have."

Hermione nodded. Christmas break had already started a few days ago, but nearly everyone was staying for the ball. Only fourth years and up could go, but a few third years stayed behind because they got asked to the ball or asked someone a grade above them to go. There were no second or first years, however.

The Ball would be held on Christmas evening, a day before the Ball Hermione attended in her fourth year. It was already just two days before Christmas evening.

"Hey," Remus said, settling next to her. Hermione smiled and leaned against his shoulder as he wrapped her arm around her waist. The feeling in her gut returned to her stomach, doing a few extra flips. Hermione shook it off as usual, making it return to the subconscious area in her head.

* * *

Hermione opened the drawer on the bottom, the one with the silver dress. It was indeed Christmas Evening, about two hours before the ball. She knew she was a bit early, but she wanted to experiment with her hair. Remus said that he would meet her in the Great Hall, five o' clock, and she wanted to be ready.

Hermione slipped on the dress, which felt very peculiar- It was like water, almost, but it didn't slide off her body. It fit to her knees before getting wider and flaring out a bit. Hermione could tell that it was a mermaid dress. It was strapless and had jewels on the waist and bust. Hermione stepped into the bathroom to look at the mirror. She almost fell over when she saw herself.

The dress itself was amazing. It reflected the light, but only the light so that it wouldn't look like it had multiple colors. It really looked like liquid was draped across her body, or she was dipped in silver paint. She shook her head and hurried over to the counter and grabbed her brush, getting to work with her hair.

After about forty-five minutes of fussing and wrestling with her hair, she had decided on a loose yet elegant bun with curls of hair going down the side of her face. She was still shocked but very pleased with her dress. She put stud diamond earrings and decided on some silver bracelets, the dangling ones that she had "borrowed" from Lily (Turns out her drunk self was very good at hiding stuff when she stole things; when Hermione was taking a shower she found Lily's bracelets somehow concealed in her hair).

Hermione applied clear lip-gloss and the smallest amount of blush. She left everything else alone as she took her watch off her left wrist. It read four forty-nine. The Ball started at five sharp, so Hermione quickly went over to her dresser and slid open the shoes drawer. She quickly selected a pair of simple silver high-heels- a strap in front of the toes and a strap in around the ankle, embedded in little jewels.

Hermione stepped out of the dorm and into the hallway; it was dead silent. Everyone must have already headed down towards the Great Hall, which in the mean time was the Ball room.

It was a bit awkward, walking down the hall in a dress and heels. The halls were empty, making the sound of Hermione's heels bounce off the walls.

Sure enough, when Hermione peeked into the Great Hall, which had completely transformed into an ice-themed ball, it was filled with people. Hermione could see what Lily and Lana meant- Every girl was in a poofy, large ball gown. She saw a few girls in evening gowns, but even those dresses flared out quite a bit.

Hermione saw Remus, checking his watch. Her heart, as usual, skipped a beat as she saw him. He looked especially good in dark blue dress robes. Hermione had no idea how and why they were there, but there was suddenly stairs there leading to the glass-like ball room floor. It was only about ten stairs, and they were of course made of glass. Hermione kept a firm hand on the hand rail and slowly went down the stairs.

The lights reflected off her dress, making her quite literally glow. Since the orchestra was already playing and there was a relatively loud chatter going on, Hermione found it surprising that people noticed her at all. They place got quiet, and the background orchestra was getting a bit awkward without any sound of feet or voices. Hermione could feel her face burning as she kept her eyes on the ground, smiling the smallest bit. Almost everyone was staring at her.

As she approached her respective boyfriend, his mouth was wide open. He stupidly closed it as she smiled up at him.

"He- Hermione, you look amazing!" he breathed.

"Really?" Hermione said, automatically looking down at her. "I feel really out of place without a ball gown, or anything..."

"No, this is better! It's unique- It's you," he said, tapping her nose. Hermione blushed.

"Thanks, I guess, you like great... too..." Hermione flushed, looking down at the ground.

Remus extended an arm, which Hermione took, still red.

"Would you like to dance?" Remus said in his most pompous voice.

"Why yes, I would, thank you," Hermione responded in an equally grandiose voice.

They parted the crowd easily, everyone stopping to dance and look at them. Hermione could hear muttering and whispering, and even heard Lana's voice somewhere.

"Bloody shit, that dress is shiny!"

Remus easily guided her through the dancing hall, Hermione laughing every time he lifted her for a spin. She could feel at least a few pairs of eyes on her at all times. She passed by Hui, who was in a pastel blue ball gown with some other guy that also looked Asian. With a start she noticed that she was going out with Sean Chang, Cho's father. He and Sky must have broken up. She spotted Lily with that Nathaniel Walkers. Lily beamed at her as they twirled around. Hermione even saw Caylin Bond with a boy with black hair and blue eyes. She had on a dark blue ball gown, but they were spinning so fast that Hermione couldn't quite see what it looked like.

Eventually the song ended, both a bit out of breath. Hermione forgot she knew how to dance, and it came much faster to her than she thought it would. She and Remus did this awkward smiling thing, looking at each other.

"Let's go get some punch," Remus said suddenly.

"That sounds good."

The orchestra, in the mean while, was taking a two minute break. Loads of people were at the giant punch fountain (It was so unfair, old Hogwarts was much more fun) but everyone gave way for the two of them, still staring.

"You'd think they have better things to do, like, dance," Hermione said with a bit of sarcasm.

"What? You do look beautiful."

Hermione blushed slightly.

The punch fountain was made of ice, and about ten feet high. There were elegant little tea cups made of glass. Hermione held a delicate glass under a small flow of punch.

"This better not be spiked," Hermione muttered with a small smile. Remus snorted.

"Are you kidding? If it was, Padfoot would already be drunk."

"Someone say my name?" Sirius said out of nowhere, Lana clutching his arm. She indeed was in a hot-pink ball gown.

"Hey- Where's Prongs?" Remus asked.

"Probably begging Evans for a dance. Who cares? Anyways, Hermione, you look h-"

Remus sent him a death glare, and Sirius cleared his throat awkwardly. Hermione glanced at Lana, and she didn't seem to mind at all that Sirius almost made a comment about Hermione in front of her. Whether he was insulting her or complimenting her, Hermione had no idea. He had so many faces that it was hard to tell which personality he was using.

Suddenly, at the other end of the punch table, Hermione spotted something pink- Hot pink hair. Hermione nearly dropped her glass.

It was Tonks, in the fourth year. She had her long pink hair in wild curls; it looked great on her. She looked just as Hermione remembered her; with the same round mysterious eyes and the button nose. She had on a simple black ball gown, which was very flouncy. She had lace gloves to her elbows and was locking arms with a blonde boy with grey eyes.

The pit in Hermione's stomach that she had when she looked at Remus multiplied by a million, making Hermione almost fall over. Remus caught her just in time, Hermione's vision going from blurry to unusually sharp.

"Hermione, are you okay?" she heard Remus ask, worried.

"Just fine," she said softly, regaining her position. Tonks turned away, unaware that Hermione was just staring at her.

Remus and Tonks. Teddy. Hermione remembered seeing little Teddy with the blue hair sitting in George's lap in her flash out. She looked at Remus, who was talking to Sirius, and back at the back of Tonks' head. Hermione thought back to what Dumbledore told her that night just a few months ago.

_If there is something that you want to change, or something you want to tell someone- Don't. It could change everything._

* * *

**I cut this part into two parts because I couldn't finish it today, and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting another week! Part 2 coming up soon!**


	16. Christmas Part Two

**Sorry! I have so much shit! I didn't feel like including Peter in this one. **

* * *

_Previous Chapter_

_Suddenly, at the other end of the punch table, Hermione spotted something pink- Hot pink hair. Hermione nearly dropped her glass._

_It was Tonks, in the fourth year. She had her long pink hair in wild curls; it looked great on her. She looked just as Hermione remembered her; with the same round mysterious eyes and the button nose. She had on a simple black ball gown, which was very flouncy. She had lace gloves to her elbows and was locking arms with a blonde boy with grey eyes._

_The pit in Hermione's stomach that she had when she looked at Remus multiplied by a million, making Hermione almost fall over. Remus caught her just in time, Hermione's vision going from blurry to unusually sharp._

_"Hermione, are you okay?" she heard Remus ask, worried._

_"Just fine," she said softly, regaining her position. Tonks turned away, unaware that Hermione was just staring at her._

_Remus and Tonks. Teddy. Hermione remembered seeing little Teddy with the blue hair sitting in George's lap in her flash out. She looked at Remus, who was talking to Sirius, and back at the back of Tonks' head. Hermione thought back to what Dumbledore told her that night just a few months ago._

_If there is something that you want to change, or something you want to tell someone- Don't. It could change everything._

* * *

Hermione danced through the night, but it didn't sound as wonderful as it seemed. She spent weeks looking up to this day, and then just thirty minutes in her entire concept is ruined. She really enjoyed dancing with Remus, as well as some other boys who asked her for a dance, but her heart wasn't in it. The only thing she could see in her mind was her memories of Remus and Tonks, and little baby Teddy with the bright blue hair. How Tonks fell madly in love with him, and Remus with her. They actually seemed happy when they were together, so unlike the stressful selves that Hermione had gotten used to at the time.

Hours later, she crashed on her bed. Remus had just kissed her goodnight outside her dorm. Only he seemed to notice that she was a tad off.

Hermione slipped out of her dress, and didn't even bother getting into her nightgown. She just climbed into bed, leaving the shower for the morning. She knew that she wouldn't get a wink of sleep.

Around three A. M., Hermione was still tossing and turning, pondering what she should do. She had to break up with him. But how? Their relationship had been going so well.

Hermione didn't realize she had fallen asleep until someone was banging on her door. Hermione groaned and glanced at her clock. Nine A. M. sharp.

"Who is it?" she grumbled loudly.

"It's me, Lily!" she heard her call.

"Be right there," Hermione said, walking over to her dresser. She found a pair of pajama pants to put on, a light shade of lilac with little pink hearts. She opened her dresser with tops, but it was empty. Hermione furrowed her brow- Usually, it was jam packed with clothes. Hermione realized that she had put them in the hamper out of habit- The house elves must have take them to wash, and they haven't been returned yet. She usually did her own laundry, not just because she didn't want the house elves to work, but because she did it faster. Whatever- It was only Lily, anyways.

"How long are you going to take?" Lily exclaimed.

"I'm coming!" Hermione yelled, ripping a brush through her hair. Finally, she slid her door open.

"There, can't you just be patient-?" Hermione began to ask, but she saw people behind her. Hermione shrieked and jumped behind the door, awkwardly covering herself with her arms. She heard Sirius and James roar with laughter, and one of them wolf whistle.

"Lily!" Hermione exclaimed, turning bright red. "I thought it was only you!"

"Sorry!" Lily apologized, but Hermione could tell that she was trying not to smile through her tone of voice.

"I'm getting a shirt!" Hermione yelled, slamming the door shut.

After three minutes of tearing apart her room for a shirt, she finally found one under her bed. It was a white t- shirt. Hermione tried not to blush as she opened the door again.

Sirius and James were still snickering, and Remus looked like he had socked them on the arm. Hermione's chest split open with pain as she saw him. Not today. It was Christmas.

"What are you guys doing?" Hermione asked. Lana appeared out of nowhere, clutching Sirius' arm.

"Hi Hermione! We should all open our presents together!" she squealed, pulling her towards the common room. It was relatively empty for Christmas morning.

"Did you have to bring them along?" Hermione muttered, sitting down. "How on earth am I supposed to open something I don't have?"

"Don't be silly!" Lana said, pointing at the tree. Sure enough, a pile of presents half the size of the Christmas tree sat there, the wrapping paper reflecting the light into Hermione's eyes.

"I saw the house elves delivering them into my dorm last night, and I asked them if they could put ours under the Christmas tree!" Lana said proudly. She picked one up and threw it at Hermione, which she barely caught.

"There's one for you, right there! From me!" she exclaimed. She began to toss each and every one of them her own presents.

"Open them!" she demanded when they just stared at it.

One by one, they all tore open the wrapping paper. Lana had gotten Hermione what she thought was eye liner, but really was just a quill in disguise. Why quills needed a disguise as eye liner, Hermione had no idea.

"Thanks, Lana!" Hermione smiled. "Now my eye liner can actually be used as a _proper writing utensil,_" Hermione said, glaring at Sirius and James' direction, and they both looked away.

Lana had gotten Lily a pair of new shoes- "Those sneakers are getting _way_ too old!" , Sirius some new hair products- "Sure, laugh now, but I actually needed this!" Sirius had said when everyone else snickered, Remus a book (That was self explanatory) on werewolves, which was plain coincidence, but the three of them had managed to pull off their poker faces, and James some Quidditch things, like polish and straw tweezers.

"Ooo, this one's from Hermione!" Lana gushed, picking one wrapped in silver wrapping paper.

"Aw, look, Prongs! She actually got me something!" Sirius said, picking up a thin package.

"Don't be too excited, it's a muggle book to help with your lessons," Hermione said. Before Sirius could look disappointed, he tore the wrapping apart. His eyes widened.

"How to Fix Your Motorcycle!" he exclaimed, flipping through the book.

"There's even pictures! Who knew that muggles could come up with such a beautiful piece of art?" he asked. "Gee, thanks, 'Mione!"

"Don't call-" Hermione was about to say, but she decided to let it slide. It was, after all, Christmas.

"What's hot-wiring?" Sirius asked, reading a bit off the back.

"Nothing! Boring! Don't read it!" Hermione said at once. She hadn't realized that that was in the book.

"You're a terrible liar. I'll look at it later."

"Come on, Alden! You didn't get me anything?" James complained. Hermione turned a bit pink; even though they weren't the best of friends, there was a large packet labeled _To Hermione, From Prongs and Padfoot._

"Fine. I'll make Lily go out with you, how's that?" Hermione said with a devious smile.

"HEY!" Lily yelled, in the midst of opening her gift from Hermione.

"Really? Now? Damn, Hermione! This is the best gift ever!" James exclaimed. "You promise?"

"Yes," Hermione laughed. They were going to be together, after all.

"Hermione! You're selling me!" Lily yelled.

"Yeah, Evans isn't even anything close to a slut," Sirius reasoned. Lily threw a Christmas bauble at his head, which he dodged.

"Hey! It was a compliment!"

Hermione had gotten Lily a pair of teardrop emerald earrings, with little rhinestones surrounding the emerald teardrop.

"Hermione, their beautiful!" Lily exclaimed, holding them up in the light. "You shouldn't have, these must have been so expensive!"

"They were on sale," Hermione promised.

Hermione had gotten Lana a necklace with a silver, thin chain. Attached to the chain was a opal the size of a dime. The opal was encased in silver, the opal an ombre pink to light blue.

"Holy shit, Hermione! It's so god damn pretty!" she exclaimed, putting it on at once. "How'd you know that my birth stone was opal?"

"Lucky guess," Hermione laughed, remembering how Lana had wore a birthday crown to class on that day back in October. She hadn't thrown a party, thank god.

Hermione had gotten Remus the largest box of chocolates and fudge she could find. When he unwrapped it, he was literally speechless. Hermione laughed at his expression.

"Hermione, he's been cheating on you with chocolate lately," Sirius said seriously. "You've just given him permission to _cheat on you_."

"Shut up, Black. Tomorrow, I'm back to not talking to you."

"Aw, 'Mione! It's Christmas!"

"Exactly. That's why I'm being so nice."

Eventually, they had all opened their presents. Turns out, the large present from James and Sirius was the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings.

"Wow, thanks!" she had gushed, examining it. "I left my set at... home. I've been looking for a new one!"

"Hey, no probs," Sirius said.

"Not like it cost much," James added. There was something about their tone that suggested they stole it, but Hermione let it slide.

Remus had gotten her two books- the second and third parts of _Time Turners- A Mysterious Invention._

_"_There's more parts?" Hermione gasped. Remus nodded, smiling at her excitement.

"I don't think you saw the others. I grabbed them at the last second when you weren't looking."

"Aw, thanks!" Hermione said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, then remembering that she wasn't supposed to. Whatever, she thought. It's Christmas! Hermione hoped that she wouldn't use this excuse for everything she did that she wasn't supposed to.

They all put their presents in their dorms and headed to breakfast. They were there late- It was around eleven. They took seats at the quite empty table.

Hermione was the first to finish. She excused herself, and went back to the common room. She sat on the couch, deep in thought. Not just about Remus, but also about what she would do. In the long run, really- Would she try and find a way to stay permanently? When Hermione travels in the future, there could be advanced technology that lets her stay. Or, she could stay here and make visits.

What did Dumbledore say? _You should be able to see your friends shortly after Christmas._

Hermione jumped out of her seat. Sure, it was Christmas, but a check-up wouldn't hurt, would it? Just as she was about to run out, she caught something at the corner of her eye. She turned, and there under the Christmas tree was a present. Another one that wasn't there before. Hermione picked it up.

_To Hermione G. Alden, from Professor Dumbledore._

Hermione smiled. He had included her real last name in secret. It was a small box, the size of a necklace box. She opened it, and folded back the tissue paper. Hermione gasped.

Carefully, very carefully, Hermione picked up her present by the bronze chain. It was the bronze time-turner. A small note was buried in the tissue paper. With trembling fingers, Hermione picked it up.

_Three times, and three times only. I trust you to use it wisely. -Professor Dumbledore._


	17. Forward in Time (CP3)

**Just saying- This story does not end up with Hermione/Ron (Sadly. I love them together! But for the sake of the story...), but that's all I'm saying! Every other couple stays pretty much the same. I ship James/Lily and Harry/Ginny way too hard to change them, even in just silly FanFiction. Don't ask what I'm doing writing SB-HG fanfics while I still support HG-RW. You can ship many at once, right?**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I would have made Hermione slap Draco much more often.**

* * *

_Previous Chapter_

_What did Dumbledore say? You should be able to see your friends shortly after Christmas._

_Hermione jumped out of her seat. Sure, it was Christmas, but a check-up wouldn't hurt, would it? Just as she was about to run out, she caught something at the corner of her eye. She turned, and there under the Christmas tree was a present. Another one that wasn't there before. Hermione picked it up._

_To Hermione G. Alden, from Professor Dumbledore._

_Hermione smiled. He had included her real last name in secret. It was a small box, the size of a necklace box. She opened it, and folded back the tissue paper. Hermione gasped._

_Carefully, very carefully, Hermione picked up her present by the bronze chain. It was the bronze time-turner. A small note was buried in the tissue paper. With trembling fingers, Hermione picked it up._

_Three times, and three times only. I trust you to use it wisely. -Professor Dumbledore._

* * *

Hermione put it around her neck slowly, hands shaking.

"Whatcha doing?" Sirius' voice said from nearly a meter behind her. Hermione screeched and quickly shoved the necklace under her shirt. Luckily, her t-shirt was rather baggy so the time turner didn't show very much.

"Nothing!" Hermione squeaked. Sirius chuckled, and Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Aw, come one, 'Mione! It's Christmas!"

"Don't call me-"

"Hey, it's better than what I used to call you," he reasoned, flopping down on the couch.

Hermione made a face of disgust. "You _joke_ about it?"

Sirius looked at her. "Well, I don't do it now."

"Oh, and that makes it so much better, doesn't it? It doesn't make it go away, you know!"

"Well, what the hell do you want me to do?"

"Just leave me alone for five seconds, please! I have something I need to do," Hermione snapped, walking to her not-so-secret dormitory. She whispered her password so quietly that not even Hermione could hear it. The painting swung forward, and the metal door slid to the side.

"Wait-" was all Hermione heard as she shut the door. Heart beating, she pulled out the time turner. She sat on her bed, and took a closer look.

Hermione tried to turn it once, but she found that she couldn't. Instead, a little rectangle was right above the hour glass. Upon closer inspection, she was able to tell that the rectangle was labeled _year. _There was another rectangle labeled _place. _There were no dials, however. Nothing to set the time. A small bell rang in Hermione's head.

"Er- 1988, The Burrow," she said softly. At first, nothing happened. Then, the very same twisting feeling in her stomach appeared. She could fell herself squeezing into nothing.

* * *

Hermione landed on the ground. Hard. For some reason, she fell flat on her face from what seemed at a distance of three feet above the ground. She scrambled up to her feet, only to find herself right in the middle of Christmas dinner, all of the Weasleys and Harry around the table. If the situation had been any different, Hermione would have laughed at all of their reactions. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stared at her like she was a ghost. Bill, Charlie, and Percy all had the same stunned expression on his face, except for Percy, who had the face but was sputtering nonsense, neck turning red. Fleur had her perfectly glossed lips wide open. George, who had Teddy in his lap, had directed his attention away from Teddy long enough for his to grab a hold of a fork and poke George in the stomach repeatedly, who was too busy staring at Hermione with wide eyes.

Her friend's reactions were the best. Ron's mouth was too, wide open, but since he was eating apple pie at the moment, it was rather disgusting. It was funny, however, how the apples would plop down and make a relatively loud plopping noise. Harry had dropped his fork. Her seat next to Ron's was empty, but the plate had food on it, half eaten. It must have been Ron's, who had pushed it to the side.

Ron, not finishing his food? Hermione thought. It must be the apocalypse.

Ginny was the only one who had actually done something within the first three seconds. Well, she fell off her chair and onto Crookshanks, who hissed, but it was better than Ron's open mouth. His tail bushy, he leaped into Hermione's arms as if she never left.

There was a great uproar as everyone scraped their chairs, scrambling out of their seats. Ginny was the first there- she tackled Hermione to the ground with a hug, Crookshanks hissing and jumping out of her arms.

"Hermione?"

"Bloody bitch!"

"HERMIONE!"

"My goodness, Professor Dumbledore said that you were never coming back!"

"Ah, I told you not to worry! 'Ermione, 'ave some pie!"

Hermione was surrounded by every single one of the Weasleys, and Harry. Mrs. Weasley wiped a tear away as they backed away awkwardly, looking at her, waiting for her to speak.

"Hi," Hermione said breathlessly. Everyone burst out laughing.

"Hermione! I can't believe it- McGonagall said you couldn't come back!" Ron said hoarsely as everyone told her to sit down, to start eating, to make herself at home. Hermione sat in her chair, but didn't eat.

"I can," Hermione whispered. "Just not permanently I've come to just tell you- she's right, Ron. I can never come back forever. I'm stuck. I can come and visit, but Professor Dumbledore said that I'll never be with you guys completely."

There was silence. George looked very sad; he had started to joke about how worried they had been.

"I've only got an hour, then I'm going back," Hermione said. "I'll come back for longer, but that will be a year. I can visit two more times, but only for an hour before they get me a white gold time-turner."

"But- but-" Ron started, but Harry stopped him. He beamed at Hermione.

"Glad you're back, Hermione."

"Who're your friends? Are there any guys there? Are you dating them?" Ginny said as fast as possible, despite Ron being right there. It was kind of awkward. and Hermione felt extremely about sort-of cheating. Hermione turned bright red. Oh, god. They didn't know about the Marauders.

"Well, I think I'm about full," Bill said loudly. There was a murmur of agreement as everyone besides the four of them got out of the kitchen awkwardly. George winked at her as he left, Teddy giggling.

"Dating?" Hermione said. "But- Er-" she glanced at Ron, who looked bewildered. His ears were bright red.

"Oh," Ginny said softly. "So you aren't dating anyone?"

"Well- We assumed that you were, and- Well-" Harry stuttered. The color from his ears began to make way to Ron's face.

"Why is it so quiet?" a voice said from outside the kitchen. A voice that Hermione had never heard before. A girl with blonde, curly hair to her waist pranced in. She had ice blue eyes, and dimples as she smiled. She was very pretty. She stopped at the scene. When her eyes came upon Hermione, her eyes widened.

"Who're you?" she asked. "And where's everyone else?"

Hermione looked around for an explanation. Nobody was meeting her eye.

"Hermione," Ron said with a controlled voice, "This is Samantha Higgins."

"Hi," Samantha bubbled. "Hermione? Is that your ex-girlfriend you were talking about?"

Ron sent her a look as she said, 'ex'. Hermione wasn't angry, or mad, or anything like that. She was relieved that she didn't leave a broken heart behind, and then spit on it and kill it with a hammer a few times (she had some up-close-and-personal moments with Remus).

"Oh, thank god," Hermione said, patting her heart, "I felt so guilty!"

Everyone breathed out in relief.

"Well, it wasn't working out anyways," Ron reasoned. Ginny hit him.

"You don't say things like that!"

"It's okay, Ginny," Hermione laughed. She looked at Samantha. "Yeah, I'm Hermione."

"Hi," she said. "You've never met me before. I was home schooled."

"Who're you dating?" Ginny said before Hermione could respond to Samantha.

"Er," Hermione stalled.

"1977," Harry said. "That was when my parents were there, I think. And Sirius! And Lupin. Have you meet them?"

Harry had this very eager look on his face, one that Hermione hasn't seen since Harry was waiting for his Firebolt to be returned to him.

"I've meet them," Hermione said slowly.

"What're they like? My mum and dad," Harry asked at once.

"Well, Lily is really sweet! She's my best friend-"

"WHAT?"

"- And she reminds me so much of Ginny," Hermione finished, ignoring Harry's outburst.

"Who's a better friend, me or her?" Ginny asked.

"Well, she's a tad more gullible," Hermione said thoughtfully, thinking back to the time when she thought Sirius was just a normal dog while Hermione stood there, calling it Sirius. "And she's got a hotter temper. Both are equally sassy-"

"I doubt it," Harry muttered.

"- But Ginny has much more profanity."

"So I am better," Ginny reasoned.

"And my father?" Harry asked. Hermione bit her lip.

"Well," Hermione said, "Sorry to say this, since you praise him and all, but he's-"

"An arrogant toe-rag?" Harry offered, taking the words right out of her mouth. Harry laughed at the expression on her face.

"I know that part. But any good sides?"

"Well, he's really sweet on Lily, and funny at times," Hermione said, deciding not to tell Harry about how he and Sirius bullied her.

"And Sirius?" Harry asked. Hermione wondered if Harry had finally mastered Occlumency.

"I've been practicing," Harry grinned. Hermione looked shocked as everyone stared at him. Samantha was staying rather quiet, but was looking at Hermione with interest.

"I'm not very good at it, even though I'm actually trying, now. But I can get some things," Harry explained.

"Harry, what on earth are you talking about?" asked Ginny.

"Occlumency," Hermione said. Ron and Ginny nodded as if this was enough reason, which it sort of was.

"So that means you can't keep it from us, Hermione. Who have you been dating?" Ginny asked. "Tell me or I'll make Harry read your mind."

Hermione turned red, staring at the ground.

"Is it someone we know?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded, still blushing furiously.

"Give us a hint, then," Harry said.

"He was our Dark Arts teacher one year!" Hermione burst. They all remained silent.

"You're dating Mad Eye?" Ron asked. Ginny elbowed him in the ribs as Harry burst out laughing.

"Not him, you moron!" Ginny scolded.

"Yeah, it was obviously Snape," Ginny said with a devious smile.

"NO!"

"Quirrell?"

"No! Honestly, it's Remus! Lupin!" Hermione exclaimed. She felt like her face was burning off.

"Really?" Ginny said. "Gross."

"Hey!" Hermione said.

"What about Tonks?" Harry asked.

"Well, that's what I just realized about one day ago. But Teddy's still here, so I obviously... You know."

"Trample on his heart?" Ron suggested.

"Ron!" Hermione said.

"But he's so... Old," Ginny said.

"He's not bad looking as a seventeen year old, you know."

"Do you have a picture?"

"No, I-" Hermione said, looking at her pockets. She saw the corner of a little piece of paper. She tugged it out.

"Do?" Hermione asked, glancing over the photo. She looked at everyone else. "How'd this get in here?"

"Don't know," Ginny said, "Don't care. Lemme see!"

They all crowded around the photo; even Samantha took a look. It was the six of them opening their presents, just a few hours before. Well, for Hermione, anyways. Sirius was talking to James, the motorcycle book in Sirius' left hand. Lily was holding her earrings up to the light, squinting. Lana was hooking arms with Sirius, the necklace that Hermione got for her was dangling. Lana was laughing at the expression on Remus' face, looking at his chocolate. Hermione was leaning against Remus, smiling up at him.

It was silent for a moment. Ginny was the one to break it.

"Sirius is hot," she said. Hermione laughed.

"Hey!" Harry said, frowning.

"It's the truth, Harry. Do you work out? He does, obviously."

"I like the one with that Hermione's leaning on. He's cute," Samantha said.

"Oi!" Ron said.

Hermione laughed.

"Hey, where's Wormtail?" Harry asked. "Not that I care."

Hermione furrowed her brow. She hadn't noticed. "I don't know. He's never really around."

"Shame," Ron said. "Hey, want some pie? It's good."

"Yes, I could tell by the way you regurgitated it."

They talked for ages. Hermione found out that Samantha worked at the Ministry, Shacklebolt's helper. She and Ron met at the fountain, both giving a galleon. Ron was making decent money off of his job, and he planned to give some to his parents once he made enough.

"Don't tell Bill, but I make more money than him," said Ron.

Hermione was starting to forget that she didn't belong there. Her old friends made her feel right at home with the Weasleys. She was just getting into the Halloween party when Ginny gasped and pointed at her hand. It was disappearing.

"No," Hermione breathed. She fumbled in her pockets and shoved the picture at Harry. She could feel herself disappearing.

"Keep it," Hermione said, "I'll be back at Easter for another hour, I promise! I'll miss you!"

Hermione couldn't hear their responses, however, for she heard a small _pop,_ and she was gone.


	18. Already Broken

**If you guys want more chapters in different POVs, do tell me! I will not, however, do first person. I just can't do it! AH! This chapter has only Hermione's POV. Sorry. Also, Peter is at his family's house, so yeah no Peter. LAZYYY**

**Thank you for all of the reviews! I shall grant you with another reference. You know what I'm referring to.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Besides the plot and a few characters, Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling!**

_Previous Chapter_

_Hermione was starting to forget that she didn't belong there. Her old friends made her feel right at home with the Weasleys. She was just getting into the Halloween party when Ginny gasped and pointed at her hand. It was disappearing._

_"No," Hermione breathed. She fumbled in her pockets and shoved the picture at Harry. She could feel herself disappearing._

_"Keep it," Hermione said, "I'll be back at Easter for another hour, I promise! I'll miss you!"_

_Hermione couldn't hear their responses, however, for she heard a small pop, and she was gone._

* * *

Hermione finally slid the door open to her compartment, stepping into the common room. She had pretty much spent the last twenty minutes cussing in her head and crying. She wanted so badly to go back, to make things right. Here she was, back in time, messing up people's lives.

Sirius, James, and Remus were all sitting on the couch, laughing at a joke that James must have said. Lily was absent, probably thinking of more things to add to, "Why I Hate James Potter" list. Remus took one look at the expression on her face and stopped laughing.

"And then I told the bitch, 'Why don't you just go-'" Sirius stopped in the middle of his statement, staring at Hermione.

"What's with you?" Sirius asked. Hermione shook her head, images of Teddy popping up every time she glanced at Remus.

"I just need a breather," she said faintly, heading towards the door. No one tried to stop her.

* * *

It was a few days after Christmas, the five of them sitting in front of the fire. James and Sirius were pouring over the book Hermione had gotten him.

"Black, is that a book? I've never seen you with one of those before," Lily said in false amazement. James snickered. Hermione couldn't help but notice that Lily didn't mind spending so much time around James, that she would even glance at him from time to time without glaring.

"Shut up, Evans," Sirius said, "Way to interrupt the best part! I was just getting to the part on how to keep the handle bars clean with using muggle house-hold objects."

"Best part? Given up on hot-wiring, have you?" Hermione asked. Sirius shrugged.

"It would be useful if I didn't have a wand and I blew some muggle monument up, but I'll most likely have my wand."

"Fascinating."

Hermione had been avoiding Remus' eyes for the past few days, and she knew that he knew that something was going on. He tried desperately to catch her eye, like 'accidentally' poke her, or something like that. But Hermione kept her eyes on the ground. She was afraid that if she looked him in the eye, it would all come out.

Hermione dared herself to look up at him, but at that moment, he was also staring at her.

_What's wrong?_ his eyes plainly said. Hermione nibbled on her lip.

_We need to talk,_ her own pair responded. James and Sirius looked up with a confused look on their faces. Lily, of course, knew exactly what was going on and stayed out of it.

"What's going on?" James said. "Is this that telepathic mind-talk that I heard that all couples have?"

"Can't tell you. I wouldn't know," Sirius shrugged.

"Er... I think we need some private time," Remus said a bit grimly, getting up. James and Sirius oohed.

"What do you think it is, Prongs?" Sirius whispered loudly.

"Either they're having The Talk or they're doing it."

"Potter!" Hermione exclaimed, her face reddening. Remus flushed a bit pink, as well.

"Hey, I'm just being realistic," James shrugged.

"That's not realistic at all," Hermione snapped, "If you'd please, Remus..."

They left the room, going into Hermione's own. Hermione sat on her bed, and followed suit. Hermione refused to look him in the eye. She and Viktor sort of just fell apart, and she and Ron were separated for ages, both getting their own boyfriends and girlfriends in the process. She's never broken up with someone before, and someone like Remus definitely didn't deserve it.

"You're breaking up with me, aren't you?" Remus said suddenly. Hermione looked up at him, a bit shocked.

"I- I- I-" Hermione stammered. She cleared her throat.

"Look..." she said quietly. She finally got the courage to look him in the eyes. In the golden-brown hue, there was a mixture of things- a bit of pain, grimness, but mostly something that Hermione did not expect at all- understanding.

"You- You knew?"

"I know you better than that."

Hermione bit her lip. "It doesn't feel right, not telling you why..."

Hermione looked over her shoulder, where the time turner was hidden in its box, innocently lying there. She glanced back at Remus. He would understand that they just can't be together, yet she wouldn't give anything away. He probably hasn't even heard of Time Tuners, and if he has, certainly not bronze ones.

Hermione leaned over, carefully lifting the Time Turner up by the chain. She held it up at eye-distance, and let Remus see.

"Why are you showing me this, exactly?"

"It's called a Time Turner."

He still looked confused. Hermione sighed, lowering her arm into her lap.

"It brings you back in time," she said softly. If it had been any other situation, seeing how his face evolved into shock, understanding, confusion, and shock again would have been funny.

"Wait," he said slowly, "So you've been back in time before? Before you were born, and accidentally changed things or something-"

Hermione shook her head. "I can't tell you why we can't be together, but I promise, it's not because of you. It's because of me, but on a whole new level."

Remus attempted a feeble smile. "All right. At least you were honest with me... As honest as you could be, anyways."

Hermione nodded. "Well..."

They sat there, in the silence.

* * *

News got around, whether it was because they saw how they weren't really attached anymore or James and Sirius were pressing their ears up against the door. Lily was shocked.

"What? Why? Tell me! Tell me before I slap you!" Lily exclaimed.

"Calm down, Lils. It's just that we couldn't be together."

"That's so cliche!" Lily said. "Please don't tell me that was your lame excuse for breaking up with him!"

"It wasn't. I explained, sort of."

"SORT OF?" she yelped. Hermione jumped and dropped her quill. They were in the empty common room, the two of them doing homework on the couch.

"He was the sweetest guy ever! I totally shipped you two, and you just smashed it into a million pieces!"

"Shipped?"

Lily huffed, glancing down at her watch. "Hey, don't you have a tutoring lesson with Black in about three minutes?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "That's right, I forgot!"

"See, you would have forgotten without me!" Lily said loudly as Hermione quickly put her things away. Hermione slung her back over her shoulder, feeling it to make sure the day's lesson plans were in there.

"That means you should always rely on me for advice, especially with some _not necessarily ex-boyfriends!_"

Hermione rushed into the classroom, whipping her head around for the sight of Sirius. Strange. He was usually here five minutes early, for some reason.

"Very funny, Black," Hermione said, a bit annoyed. She had ran all the way up here just to meet an empty classroom. "Prank's over, time for your lesson."

"You aren't any fun if you aren't surprised," his voice grumbled. He appeared out of nowhere on a desk, slipping the invisibility cloak off of him. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Way to be a party shitter, Herman."

"Just get over here. I have something for you."

Sirius looked a bit startled, and Hermione realized that she had said that in a rather suggestive tone. She cleared her throat.

"I mean..." she fished a little tape box out of her bag and waved it in his face. "I've got a muggle movie for us to watch!"

"Movies? I thought you needed a bunch of other things to work a... tape thing."

Hermione beamed in pride. "I'm glad you've been paying attention to me."

"It's sort of-"

"Moving on!" Hermione said, taking out the projector, VCR, screen, and other things.

"This is going to take a few minutes."

"Can I help?"

"If by help, do you mean destroy?"

"Yes! I mean no!"

"Then no. Let me finish."

"What are we watching?"

"It's a surprise," Hermione said with a bit of a grin.

Moments later, everything had been set up all nice and neat.

"Where the fuck did a couch come from?"

"It's called magic, Sirius."

"Well, still-" Sirius froze.

"What?"

"You called me Sirius."

"So?" Hermione snapped. Sirius whistled lowly.

"Just thought I'd bring it up. Wow, girls are real bitches after a break-up."

"You think?! And don't you dare mention that, I'm trying to make this a good night!"

"And what a splendid job you're doing."

"Shut it!"

"Shutting."

They settled on the couch, Sirius, as always, being too close for Hermione's liking. She scooted over to the side, making Sirius frown.

"What, don't you like me?"

Hermione looked at him.

"Okay, yeah, but I'm all cold and shit!"

"Get a blanket. And do you not have a girlfriend?"

"She's not here right now?"

"You missed my... Oh, whatever." Hermione switched on the film with the remote control. Large letters appeared on the screen, and booming music began to play.

"Star Wars?" Sirius asked. "The music is epic."

"Shh."

But of course, Sirius felt the need to narrate everything that popped up on the screen, and he didn't miss a single beat. As the words stopped rolling, he began to sing along with the tune.

For the next hour or two, the movie consisted of Sirius yelling at the screen and shouting insults at various characters.

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Don't do that, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Fucking fuckity fuck!"

"Dude that's epic!"

"Did you see that?"

"Did you see just went down? Because what I saw was AWESOMENESS."

"Ew, what the fuck?"

"I'd rather drink piss from Mike Love's ass pit than be in your presence!"

"You moronic bastardly turd!"

"What just went down. WHAT JUST WENT DOWN?"

Not necessarily in that order, but something of the sorts. He was jumping up and down in his seat like a child when it ended; even Hermione had this smile on her face.

"Can we get more? Please?"

"If you're good."

"I-" Sirius was about to say, until there was a light knocking at the door.

"Come in."

Lana poked her head in through the door.

"Se-wee-us!" she squealed, running towards him. Sirius tried to put on a fake smile as Lana curled up next to him on the couch, sandwiching herself between Sirius and Hermione. Hermione got up at once, Lana playing with his tie.

"Well, I'm off," she said, waving her wand once. All of the items put themselves neatly and carefully into the bag, except for the couch.

"And... you two can take care of the couch, I guess," Hermione said. She walked straight out of the room.

* * *

**I've had a terrible week. This chapter is a filler chapter, therefore is a little boring, and a bit poorly written. I'll admit, this was rushed. I just have a lot of shit going down, trying to juggle two schools, two instruments and fucking classes. I think many people can relate with me here, having a busy schedule. Next chapter... Well, I'm going to have to see what I have planned out. Toodles!**


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